Visiting Santa at the mall is a yearly tradition for many but it’s going to be quite different this year thanks to COVID-19.

While my family doesn’t celebrate Christmas, Lucas was excited to take a (free) photo with Santa at Kohl’s a few years back. (We’ve also met him on a few other occasions, most memorably at the Eiffel Tower during winter break 2018.)

CNN writes, “while the pandemic won’t keep Santa Claus from making an appearance at the mall or at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, don’t count on touching Santa, hugging Santa, or having the kids sit on his lap this year.”

I was surprised (maybe not) to read that some malls were even going to offer Zoom calls with Santa! So 2020!

While the mall Santa experiences will be touchless, some St Nick’s will even be wearing masks in states that require them. In states that don’t have the requirements, Santa can decide whether or not to wear one.

Some options for contactless meetings will have kids sitting on packages or across from him at a table. Some malls will have Santa sitting inside a giant snow globe, behind plexiglass or behind a giant picture frame. I think the snow globe idea sounds like a good plan.

If you usually take your kids for a photo with Santa, do you plan to do so this year or skip due to COVID-19? There’s one thing that’s for sure, it will be a pretty bizarre, different and unique experience!

Find out more from CNN here.