RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- A Riverside resident was so distraught that someone stole Christmas heirlooms and ornaments off his porch that he glued a sign to a bare evergreen tree with a message to the suspected Grinches, it was reported Sunday.
"Hey thief, when you stole our Christmas, you forgot the tree!" says the sign next to the naked Christmas tree, according to the Press-Enterprise newspaper in Riverside.
The theft occurred Friday afternoon at the home of Steve and Diane Duke in Riverside, when somebody took a box of family heirlooms and ornaments off their porch while they went out to lunch, the Press-Enterprise reported.
The Dukes said they hope the sign and tree will bring attention to the theft and hopefully result in the return of the ornaments, the couple told the newspaper.
"Basically, our Christmas is shattered," David Duke told the Press-Enterprise. He said the ornaments have no real monetary value but he filed an online report with Riverside police anyway.
"To us, it's worth millions," David Duke said of the stolen Christmas mementoes.
A neighbor told the Dukes there were two men using a white utility truck near their home in the Canyon Crest neighborhood about the same time as the theft, according to the Press-Enterprise.
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The ornaments included priceless childhood treasures, like artwork made of painted macaroni shells, created by Duke's children decades ago. The family has been searching dumpsters in the area in hopes whomever took the goods threw them out.
