When the Gallegos family woke up and went outside Sunday morning, they found their Christmas decorations destroyed.
Large red and green candy canes that lined their yard in the 7500 block of West Alabama Drive in Lakewood were pulled out and tossed into the street.
The lights that roped around the decorations, including a train and a manger, were also trashed about the yard.
“They just broke my Christmas spirit,” said Dean Gallegos. “The excitement of Christmas around this house – they took it away from us today.”
Gallegos and his newly adopted 9-year-old son, Marcus, spent weeks putting the decorations up around the house. They started the day after Halloween and continued up until last weekend getting the house sparkling for the holiday.
The family is so upset, they’ve decided not to put the decorations back up ever again.
They filed a report with Lakewood police, but the family has no idea who would have vandalized the yard.
“I really decorate my house for my little kid,” Gallegos said. “It does not matter if they take that away from me, but they took that away from my little kid.”
Marcus is sad over what happened to the candy canes and lights he helped put up, but the family is going to try and concentrate on decorating the inside of their home where it’s less likely to be destroyed.
“He would put some new decoration up, and you would think he decorated the whole house, his eyes would light up,” Gallegos said. “I told him we have to take it down. He’s just real depressed. He understood we cannot keep that stuff up when this kind of stuff happens.”
Staff writer Felisa Cardona can be reached at 303-954-1219 or at fcardona@denverpost.com.
