Each year children flock to a mall to sit on Santa Claus’ lap to tell him their hopes and dreams for Christmas morning and get their picture taken with the jolly old soul.

But this year, a new tradition has been born.

Meridian Township will be having its first-ever drive-thru Santa Claus in the Central Park parking lot, 5151 Marsh Road in Okemos, from Dec. 18-20 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. each of the nights. The cost is $5 per car plus a canned good.

Mike Devlin, a parks and recreation specialist at Meridian Township, said he got the idea from a friend in the Lansing parks department.

“We just kind of throw out ideas for each other from each other’s programs,” Devlin said. “We’re just going to have a little area where Santa’s going to be standing. Santa will stick his head in the window, (the children will) hopefully take a picture with him.

“It’s just a convenient way instead of waiting in line at the mall.”

He said the department, which is about a year old, has to be innovative with its ideas so as not to overlap with those of Okemos and Haslett.

“We have to come up with some fancy stuff,” he said. “It’s kind of the talk of the township. Everybody’s kind of laughing at me ‘cause I’m going to be the one playing Santa Claus.”

But this won’t take the place of sitting on Santa’s lap at the mall, according to a mall official.

“I think there is something valuable to the tradition of coming to the mall, sitting on Santa’s lap and taking the photos,” said Claudia Frederick, retail marketing director at Meridian Mall Shopping Center, 1982 W. Grand River Ave., Okemos.

“It is a tradition that families do. As cute as (a drive-thru Santa) may sound, I don’t think that’ll take away from our Santa, the real Santa.”

Meridian Township is also having Santa make telephone calls to people who write to the township offices by Dec. 13. Santa will be making his calls from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Dec. 14 and 15.

To receive a call from Santa, send a letter, including a wish list, to Santa, 5151 Marsh Road, Okemos, MI 48864.