by Mindy Aguon

Guam - In the last two weeks the Guam Police Department has received more than 100 burglary and theft of property complaints. A Mongmong family's home was targeted over the weekend, but while the Grinch may have stolen the gifts under their tree, he couldn't take their Christmas spirit.

Geoff and Nina Criss attended a Christmas party last Saturday and returned home to find things in disarray. Geoff said, "I noticed our church laptop was gone and I looked and some bags were open and some drawers were open, looking around I called my wife and said, 'Do you have the laptop? No?' My daughter here noticed that hey our Christmas presents are all gone. Looking on the tree and all the Christmas cards are gone."

Geoff says the thief took a shovel to the back door and broke the door down stealing a laptop, stockings, presents under the tree and even one of his daughter's piggy banks. The burglar managed to leave one stocking with a knife stabbed through it in the kitchen sink. "It's really unnerving. It's been a really safe place and the kids aren't even safe now," he said.

Nina added, "There were lots of tears, really heavy tears. They worked to hard to wrap those presents themselves. They handpicked them. It was a reminder that we shouldn't be attached to material things."

The Criss' aren't concerned about what was taken from their home and haven't allowed the burglary to dampen their Christmas spirit. Geoff said, "It's clear that's now what's going to matter. It's really about relationships and taking care of each other. We still have so much to be thankful for. it was a reminder that God is still watching over us. We have each other. We were safe and we still have a roof over our heads so we're thankful for that. 8:06

But the incident did leave the family feeling violated and the kids insecure. "It's a healing process. They're still sleeping with us in the bed together. Yeah, walking to the bathroom together. They don't want me to share that, but that's how they've been emotionally scarred," he added.

Instead of spending money on new Christmas presents, the Criss family had to buy material to replace the door and is looking for a steel door to bring a sense of security for their kids. There have been eight burglaries reported this year here on Anga Street. The Criss' say they want to start a neighborhood watch program and see expanded programs for youth in the tri-village.

"Is here something we can do to help the youth of this area have something to do other than look around at places? There's a lot of people that are down and out. We're just looking can we help them to be able to find an outlet for this energy?" Nina asked.

The Criss' believe there is always a silver lining even in bad situations and they hope some good can come from what happened to them. Nina added, "I actually feel sorry for them and we do forgive them for what they've done. It's just sad that they live their lives like that and we actually feel sorry for them and they are the ones that we are concerned about at this point."

"Maybe this is an opportunity to make a difference in people's lives. We can say, 'Oh, why me?', but maybe it happened to us to let people be aware that there are people that need support and need help and look for opportunities to make a difference in people's lives."

A lesson we all could remember this holiday season.