A local café owner in the Village of Bath says her faith in Christmas goodwill has been restored, following the theft of her outdoor Christmas tree.
This is a story of how the Grinch did not steal Christmas from Cassandra Rendell.
It could easily be a scene out of a Hallmark Christmas movie: the community of Bath coming together to decorate a Christmas tree, replacing one that was stolen from outside Rendell’s coffee shop, The Lodge.
“To see that happen in our little village was really tough,” says Rendell, reacting to her stolen Christmas tree.
On Tuesday morning, Rendell showed up to open her business, only to find that her recently-decorated Christmas tree was stolen — along with its stand.
“It was just real sadness,” says Rendell. “We were really sad that somebody would do that.
“To take anything, but a Christmas tree just felt really wrong.”
Rendell posted her experience on the Village of Bath’s Facebook page and within an hour, Sue Nilsson with the Bath Gardening Club reached out with a plan.
Nilsson would not only replace the tree, but would also gather the community to help decorate it.
“All in the spirit of Christmas,” says Nilsson. “To turn something unfortunate into something really happy, and have a whole village come together.
The coffee shop owner says she is blown away by the generousity and the Christmas spirit, saying her “awful Grinch experience quickly turned into a magical Christmas miracle.”
“It definitely felt like we were right out of the Grinch movie or something, but I don’t think it was that fun of a situation,” says Rendell.
“But everyone coming together, it immediately turned a negative into a positive. With the village coming together, you feel you’re right out of Whoville or a Hallmark Christmas movie.
“It’s amazing.”
The new Lodge Coffee Shop Christmas tree now represents the village and a community coming together for the season.