A dim situation: Christmas light thieves unscrew, steal 100 lightbulbs from couple’s property

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - In Beechmont, Christmas lights represent the most wonderful time of the year.

However, while kids around the world write letters to Santa, David Ritcheson was typing one up to a Grinch, asking one primary question: “Who would do this?”

A Facebook post Ritcheson published in a neighborhood group starts off, 'Dear Lightbulb Thief’ because last week, he was walking out of his house and realized he was not surrounded by his normally glittering holiday colors.

"Oh, we have no lights," Ritcheson recalls. "Not that we don't have any strings of lights, but we just don't have lightbulbs."​

Ritcheson said the green wiring was still intact, but not one bulb was left in sight on his property. ​

"Someone had come and individually unscrewed, I think I counted we have about 100 lightbulbs out there," he said.

At first, Ritcheson and his wife Kayla were upset. ​

“I had this sense of injustice. Like, those were ours,” Kayla said.

David agreed.

“I was frustrated at first, but then I started thinking, like, ‘Oh man, someone must have really good knees to like, bend down and do that 100 times,’” he added.

Ritcheson said his knees hurt him for a week after he installed the bulbs, and just as that pain eventually subsided, ​he said any frustration he had after learning about the disappearance of the lights did too.

"As Christians, it's kind of easy to forgive things like this, in light of what God forgave us, which is what Christmas is all about reminding us of," Ritcheson said.

Signing off his Facebook post as 'Your Christmas Lightless Neighbor,’ it’s clear that Ritcheson found the bright side of what some would consider a dim situation.

The couple said it’s a little too close to Christmas to redecorate, but next year they might make their lights less accessible.

Copyright 2019 WAVE 3 News. All rights reserved.