VANCOUVER, B.C.—With Christmas fast approaching, condo dwellers Beth and Michael Garcia were faced with a difficult question this morning put to them by their six-year-old son, Dawson.

"Everyone knows that Santa comes down the chimney," said Beth Garcia. "But we live in a condo, and of course don't have one of those. So Dawson wanted to know how Santa was going to get into our place on Christmas Eve."

At first, the answer to that question proved to be challenging for the couple to come up with.

"Well, I didn't want to just say he'd walk in the front door or something," said Michael. "Some stranger cracking open the door late at night? That's just creepy. So, being the quick-thinking parents that we are, we came up with something else off the top of our heads. We told Dawson that Santa was going to come up the sink."

Though quite satisfied with this explanation, the parents have noticed a difference in Dawson's demeanour since they relayed this information to him.

"I guess he has been looking at the kitchen in sort of a sidelong, suspicious way," mused Beth. "And he does seem to be a lot less excited for Christmas, if I'm being honest."

Dawson's teachers at school have also expressed some concern.

"We were a little weirded out by something Dawson drew in art class," said Grade 1 teacher Mrs. Dornell. "We asked the kids to draw a picture of Santa, and Dawson drew this slimy, wet, disgusting man with an oily beard and a red suit, squeezing himself out of a drain. It looked like he had gross bits of food all over him, as well as compression bruises. It was horrifying."

"We're just glad we could come up with something," smiled Michael. "It's important to keep the magic alive at Christmastime. For the kids, you know?"