Boy ‘spends every year’ planning Christmas decorations. Then came vandals, family says
For 6-year-old Sam Fernandez, putting up Christmas decorations is one of his favorite parts of the holiday season.
“He spends every year watching YouTube videos of people decorating so he gets a whole game plan every year. (Every) Thanksgiving morning my husband and son are out there decorating,” his mother, Jennifer Fernandez, told ABC6. “Sam wants it a specific way and he makes it perfect. And he really just does it because he wants to spread some cheer.”
But this year, his family says, the festive boy’s Christmas inflatable decorations were slashed by a pair of Grinches. It happened Saturday evening, when the family says a “pop” shattered their peaceful night at their Miamisburg, Ohio home, according to WHIO7.
From there, Daoug Fernandez said he “looked outside and saw someone popping (his family’s) inflatables with a knife,” WHIO7 reported.
“When I ran out there was young man; he had what looked like a pocket knife but he was jumping on our blowups. And he punctured them all,” Doug Fernandez, the boy’s father, told ABC6. “They crushed a little 6-year-old heart last night by doing this and it’s not right.”
“One of the inflatables has a special meaning to the couple’s six-year-old son, Sam,” according to WDTN. “It was given to him as a present by his grandfather, who passed away this past May.”
Doug Fernandez said there appeared to be two people involved in the slashing of the festive inflatables, WHIO7 reported.
But don’t worry: The neighborhood has come together to support the family after word spread of the incident, per ABC6.
“A beautiful woman brought a big SpongeBob,” Doug Fernandez told the outlet. “Someone in this neighborhood sent a little girl over to our door and secretly dropped off another blowup.
“It really shows that this community is really caring and loving.”
For Jennifer Fernandez, the message her community sent is more powerful than the actions of a few vandals.
“Something bad happened here but more good came out of it,” she told WDTN, “and it showed these Grinches that the heart of Miamisburg is bigger than they’ll ever know.”