Anyone walking along the Van Veenweg in Heerhugowaard in the dark December days cannot ignore the house of René and his wife. The front garden changes every December completely in the Christmas spirit; full of snowmen, deer, and a cycling Santa Claus on the roof.
Much of the garden decoration also has sentimental value. “The nativity scene – together with the cycling Santa Claus on the roof – has been part of our collection for 26 years. Sometimes something breaks down and occasionally something is demolished, but fortunately that is not too bad,” René said when NH visited him just before Christmas.
Camera images
As if the devil is playing with it, things go wrong a few days after that statement. On the night from Saturday to Sunday, three boys cycle past the Gielings’ house at 1:35 am. Two of them stop in view of the security camera. The first boy walks to the illuminated candy canes, which are stuck in the ground behind the garden fence. He pulls two from the garden and also destroys a string of lights. According to René, the boy out of the picture also breaks lighting. Then they cycle quickly again.
Their daughter has the camera footage shared on social media, hoping they will be recognized. The images are black and white, so the exact colors of clothing cannot be seen. “The boy who pulled the candy canes from the garden has fairly light, beige-colored clothing, and he was cycling on a men’s bicycle,” René explains. “The boy who was watching was wearing a black jacket and dark trousers. He was on a mountain bike.”
‘No need for anything’
René has also reported the brutal action. “We shouldn’t make it bigger than it is, the damage is not too bad, but it is of course annoying and not necessary,” he says to media partner Regional city Central.