By Mike Hazlip–
Jubilee Christensen likes to spread holiday cheer by decorating her Citrus Heights home each year.
On the night of Nov. 10, however, someone took advantage of her display and stole a reindeer from her front lawn. Christensen described the reindeer as their “favorite and very unique.”
“We decorate a lot for the holidays,” she said. “We’ve never taken money or donations because it’s always been our gift to the community from our hearts. Our way of spreading joy and seeing kids happy.”
She said she didn’t notice the theft until the following Saturday while working on the display. Christensen took to social media and posted a video of a vehicle driving by the house and stopping in front of the house, located off Mariposa Avenue.
In audio from the recording, a woman can be heard remarking how cute the reindeer decoration was, according to Christensen. The vehicle then pulls into the driveway and the woman exits the vehicle, unplugs the reindeer and runs off with it, laughing.
Christensen said community response was “overwhelming” and said an anonymous man who would only identify himself as “Robert,” donated enough money for her to buy a replacement decoration.
This isn’t the first time her Christmas display has been targeted. Christensen, who is a disabled veteran, was considering putting a halt to the display.
“We’re two disabled vets and this isn’t our first incident of theft or damage, so it’s getting too expensive to keep maintaining the displays while replacing these items,” she said. “We were going to stop, but the amount of immediate love and support we got was amazing.”
Christensen said the anonymous donor didn’t want any credit for the good deed, just knowing he helped was enough.
“When I asked Robert if we could mention his name on it with the others, he said no need. He just wants us to keep the Christmas spirit alive,” she said.
Christensen estimates the value of the stolen reindeer to be around $100. She now has a new eight-foot deer decoration in her front lawn.
“We are calling him Dylan, which in Irish means ray of hope, and he will be the community’s deer as they were our ray of hope this Christmas.”
Jubilee Christensen likes to spread holiday cheer by decorating her Citrus Heights home each year.
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