It appears the Grinch has been at work in one Aldergrove neighbourhood for the third year running.
One resident, known only as the Fraser Valley Secret Santa, had all of the lights and decorations stolen from the front yard of his home on Dec. 3.
“The only thing that’s left is the lights ringing my house, in the gutters,” he told Global News.
He had decorations stolen two years ago, last year, Halloween this year, and this Christmas he has lost everything.
“This year was disappointing because I was working with Variety Club,” he said, “I was going to raise $500, that was my goal.”
The Secret Santa, who does not want to be identified by his name, started his alter ego when he adopted his son about six years ago. He was born missing a limb and the Secret Santa said he saw how people would be cruel and react differently to him. That is when the idea for Secret Santa began to take shape as he wanted to make his son smile and build his confidence. Now he tries to make others smile as well in the hopes he can make someone’s day better.
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This latest act of theft made his smile fade for a while.
Another house across the street also had some of their decorations stolen. The Secret Santa said all the homes in the cul-de-sac near 264 and Fraser were going to get together, have a bake sale and raise money for charity.
Now that’s all been ruined.
“My neighbours call me ‘that guy’ because I’m in the cul-de-sac every year making Christmas decorations,” said Secret Santa. He estimated more than $2,000 worth of decorations have been taken in the past couple of years and he does not have the money to replace them.
“I work pay check to pay check,” he said. “I just can’t afford it. I can’t do this anymore.”
Secret Santa has a following on social media all over the world and people have been offering him help and support. He has had messages from as far away as Australia and Africa.
“I never ask for anything for what I do,” he said. “It’s just so disappointing, the whole neighbourhood came together this year.”
It took the neighbourhood two weekends to put all of the decorations up.
Katie Caines’ best friend’s house is the other one that was hit, and she said she can’t believe what has happened.
“You’re just so angry,” she said. “How do you explain this to the kids?”
“They’re not cheap decorations.”
Caines says when they were putting up the decorations this year it was in the back of their minds what happened last year, so they bolted a lot down and put some of the inflatables high up.
“We never considered that light strings would be stolen,” she said.
The thieves took fluorescent ground marker pegs, wooden cut-outs, and they even siphoned the gas from their vehicles.
“The Christmas spirit is broken in this neighbourhood,” said Caines.
“I think it’s just the local kids in the area,” she said. “I’m sure we’ll find them on someone else’s lawn.”
Secret Santa is now not sure what to do. “The worst part is seeing my kids cry and my wife cry,” he said. “You do all this work and somebody comes along and just rips us all off, it’s disgusting.”
If you’d like to help, email: fvsecretsanta@gmail.com
– An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified these thefts as occurring for the second year in a row, not the third.
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