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Santa puts up a valiant fight, but is powerless to prevent the thief from unplugging the electric pump and triggering his deflation. Two minutes into the video, Santa throws his left arm in the air, perhaps in a desperate bid to stay upright, then collapses into a heap.

At this point, the thief, who can be seen wearing a flannel sweater, a camouflage hat and smoking a cigarette, even takes a short break. According to Kamachi, another camera angle shows the man crouching down in the bushes and waiting for Santa to shrink to a more manageable size. Then he returns to stuff Santa into what appears to be a large black duffel bag, completing the abduction.

It may be the most upsetting holiday film you see all year. This is not how Santa is supposed to be treated.

What’s worse: Santa didn’t even make it to December. The theft occurred on Nov. 25, just 48 hours after an eager Kamachi brought the Santa out of storage.

“I put it up and then literally two days later, I take the garbage out and I just think, ‘wait a minute, something’s wrong here’,” Kamachi said.

Asked if he thought it could be a neighbour annoyed to see a holiday display go up a full month before Christmas, Kamachi laughed and said he didn’t think so. But he gave the thief credit for being somewhat neighbourly about the crime nonetheless.

“My wife pointed out he was super careful. He carefully unplugged the extension cord, he didn’t disrupt her plants and stuff — he was just being careful as if it were his house. And he just carefully took it.”