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BY ELLEN BILTZ
Santa and Mrs. Claus may have a little trouble getting around this Christmas Eve.
Their reindeer are missing.
Dale and Trish Parris of Stafford County often portray the jolly couple in Fredericksburg-area events, but this year, they've lost a bit of their holiday spirit.
The Parrises, who will take part in the Colonial Beach Christmas parade this weekend, came home yesterday to find two of their treasured reindeer lawn decorations missing, said their daughter, Christie Munn.
"It appears that someone has been engaging in some very un-Christmaslike behavior," she said of the theft.
Munn said her parents, who have been posing as Santa and Mrs. Claus for more than 10 years, including appearances at the Fredericksburg Christmas Parade, are well-known around town.
"He's a real bearded Santa," Munn said laughing about how Dale Parris can't even go out to dinner without attracting attention.
The self-proclaimed Claus couple had three reindeer, two of which were missing from their front yard yesterday when they came home from a community event they had gone to in costume.
Spokesman Bill Kennedy of the Stafford County Sherrif's Office said a deputy had been to the home on St. George's Drive in North Stafford to take a report about the missing deer, but the missing deer have yet to turn up.
He said the deer were taken either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.
Munn said the deer, made of wire with lights intertwined, were very sentimental because they were given by family friends a couple of years ago when the husband returned home for Christmas from the war in Iraq.
"My mother just called me absolutely in tears," Munn said of finding out about the missing lawn ornaments yesterday.
She said her parents hope the thief has a change of heart and decides to return the decorations.
"This was more hurtful to my mother than anything. To love this holiday so much, her feelings are just really hurt today," Munn said.
If the deer aren't returned, she said, coal may end up in the thief's stocking.
Ellen Biltz: 540/374-5424
Email: ebiltz@freelancestar.com
