The holiday season is usually a time that inspires the spirit of giving and compassion, but it’s the opposite for some people living in the northwest community of Bowness.
The Gerl family were shocked when they heard someone at their front door on Friday night and discovered a nasty note in their mailbox.
The letter tells them they won the “Humbug Award” and goes on to call them a “Grinch” for their lack of a Christmas light display.
A letter sent to some residents of Bowness on 9 December 2022 calls them Grinches for not having a Christmas display.
Courtesy: Ray Gerl
The letter goes on to say that they have disappointed everyone in the community and implies that they were busy with devices and to do better next time.
The author also suggests that lights are cheap and can be bought second-hand.
The letter hit Ray Gerl hard.
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She posted it on social media and said they are a family of three disabled people – she is blind, has an older autistic brother and her mother suffers from chronic pain.
Gerl says with all three on disability, they barely scraped together enough money for a tree, let alone gifts or decor.
Her mother, Erin, says they are not in a position to do what the letter asks.
“You know, talk about not knowing what the situation is before you react to it. But they are welcome to come put up Christmas lights for me if they don’t mind paying the power bill in January. Because I simply can’t do it. It’s just not possible for my family,” Gerl said.
The family has just received notice that their rent is going up hundreds of dollars in the new year.
Money aside, Ray says no one in the family can physically manage a festive show.
“None of us can get up there. We don’t even have the ladder to get up there and it’s frankly too expensive for the electricity, the lights, etc.”
The Gerls are not the only ones who get shamed.
Many others came forward on a community page, including Linda Berg.
The student is left with expenses from just moving in, so money is tight this Christmas.
“I thought it must be a joke. And I had no idea if I should be angry or if I should laugh about it,” Berg said.
In the end, she decided to own her gifted title and created a sign for her front yard that said, “Beware the Grinch.”
Linda Berg stands next to her retribution board in Bowness on December 12, 2022.
Global News
The recipients say that even though they understand that the author may have had intentions to inspire, they went about it the wrong way.
“It’s not right to hurt people like that,” Erin said. “There are a lot of people who are suffering at Christmas right now, so I would like them to think about that.”
– With files from Gaby Rios, Global News
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
