Neighbors Support Family After Holiday Decorations Swiped

It’s pretty rare when the victim of vandalization gets so much sympathy from neighbors that the moral support almost outweighs the sting of being a crime victim.

That’s the way Kathryn Whittley is feeling right now. “It’s a silver lining,” she said Monday.

On Saturday night, somebody stole two holiday gingerbread characters from her family’s yard at the corner of Center and McClay roads. The 3 1/2-foot-tall wooden gingerbread boy and girl had been purchased three years ago for about $300, she said. Kathryn and husband, Tony, have two young kids, ages 3 and 4, who have been “totally crushed” by the incident, she said.

On Sunday, the Whittleys put up a sign in front of their house that read, "To whomever stole our decorations ... we can only hope that you needed them more than us. Merry Christmas."

Nobody has fessed up yet, but there’s been an outpouring of support that has warmed Kathryn’s heart.

“It reminds me that there are good people in Novato,” she said. “Just because you have some gremlins out there who would do this, that doesn’t mean this is a bad place to live.”

Lt. John McCarthy of the Novato Police Department said holiday decoration theft is uncommon, but it happens once in a while.

“This is my 25th year here (on the police force) and there is something like this every year,” he said. “Usually it’s kids. It’s along the same lines as people stealing pumpkins on Halloween, but this is not just running up and grabbing something off somebody’s porch. This is more involved. It’s not surprising because it does happen around here.”

A while back, the Whittleys had a car seat stolen out of their car, and Kathryn chalked it up instead of getting bent out of shape.

“I said, ‘I hope whoever took it needed it for their children,” she said.

The theft of the gingerbread boy and girl was different, though.

“I was thinking more like, ‘Wait, that’s not a need,’” she said.  

Several people have knocked on her door the past few days to help pay for new decorations, she said. Frank McGovern, who operated a Christmas tree lot on McClay for 32 years, stopped by and invited the Whittleys to use decorations from his home. Gary Sello, who operates a popular carriage rides during the holidays, offered to help pay for replacement decorations.

The Whittleys’ kids have seen their parents talking to neighbors and strangers about the heist as well.

“It’s crummy. They’re wondering why anybody would steal something like this,” Kathryn said. “It’s a lesson for them. The reason we don’t steal is because it makes you feel like this and it makes you sad. So the silver lining is that they’ve seen people come to the door and taking to us in the driveway about it.”

So in several ways, something good has come of all this, Kathryn Whittley said.

“The best part about this is that the people of Novato renewed my hope,” she said. “People in our neighborhood got used to seeing (the decorations). It was interesting because some of the older folks who have been here years and years … it seemed like it truly affected them, like this wasn’t what used to happen in Novato.

People have been so sweet about this. It’s definitely been heartwarming.”