Real-life Grinch visits Northland house, steals 10-year-old’s holiday cheer

A young girl and her family are saddened that the inflatable holiday decorations were stolen from their yard.

Several large decorations — a six-foot-tall Santa, a giant snowglobe and penguins — were swiped, Grinch-style, in the Northland in the middle of the night Tuesday, Fox4 reported. Afterward the family removed the remaining decorations out of fear they would be stolen, too.

“I think Santa would call them naughty,” said the girl, 10-year-old Amber Tucker.

Her father had made a tradition of putting up more and more decorations for decades at their home, located near 84th Terrace and North Robinhood Avenue.

But after the theft, Chad Tucker told KSHB that he had to put up a sign to announce the unfortunate news to neighbors.

“Merry Christmas. Our decorations were stolen,” the sign read.

Tom Comstock expressed incredulity by the crime.

“I can’t even imagine why someone would do something like that,” he said.

Since it happened, though, Tucker said he’s been cheered by neighbors looking to help.

And he plans to put some decorations — including a few donated by neighbors — according to KSHB. He plans to place them within view of surveillance cameras.

One person even started a GoFundMe page to help replenish the family’s decoration stock.

“Not only did they take decorations from a handicap child but all the rest of us in the neighborhood as well,” wrote the page’s creator, Tisha Garland.

The decorations were stolen days before a donation jar was swiped from a Raymore convenience store.

This story was originally published December 8, 2017 at 11:14 AM with the headline "Real-life Grinch visits Northland house, steals 10-year-old’s holiday cheer."