If you prefer to go au naturale when it comes to selecting a Christmas tree, then you know how much of an ordeal it is to find the perfect tree.
It has to be the right height, the right breed, have the branches falling the right way, be freshly cut and on and on and on.
So imagine you find that golden tree -- the one you just can't wait to hang Tiny Tim's handmade ornaments on -- you get it in your car and famished from the ordeal, you stop for a little nosh.
High on hope and Christmas cheer, you leave the tree in the back of your pickup telling yourself "No one's gonna steal a Christmas tree." A little while later -- completely refreshed and ready to decorate -- you come back outside to find you were completely wrong.
That's what happened to the Taylor family of Stafford Township, N.J. this weekend.
"I know times are tough out there, but still…stealing a Christmas tree…it's just sad," said Chris Taylor.
Taylor and his wife had just thrown the almost eight foot tall tree into the back of his pickup Saturday evening, when they stopped to grab food and then a drink from their favorite bar. Twenty minutes later, the tree was gone.
"I would have brought it home if I had thought there was any way somebody would steal a Christmas tree," Taylor said. "I guess the Grinch is out there.”
He said his wife was crushed to find the tree had been lifted. They've since vacuumed up the pine needles the thieves left behind and bought a new tree, but it's nothing like the one they had.
"She likes to get a big fat, real wide tree. We have a lot of decorations. That was the last big tree that they had too.”
So let this be a warning to all you Christmas tree buyers, make sure to keep the tree under lock and key because the Grinch may just take it away.
