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Falls to get a taste of old-time Christmas. There was no better way to transform a grinch into a good-natured, patient, and generous man or woman.
    However, the trio of Tony, Danny, and Bags couldn’t have cared less for the festivities and wholesome feeling of the town. They had a plan, and they were starting to get pretty annoyed with the home owners, Don and Linda Grant, for still being in attendance as late as the fifth of January. Jack said they always closed the shop the first weekend after Christmas, packed up the car, and headed south almost immediately. If they didn’t leave soon, there might have to be a change of plans, Tony thought.
    The Grant home was a classic colonial, bracketed by massive brick chimneys on either side with a generous porch that surrounded the front of the house. The landscaping was immaculate, and the Christmas decorations were tasteful, yet meaningful. There was a manger on one side of the front lawn and a reindeer on the other. The ground was covered with snow, which only added to the simple beauty. At eleven o’clock at night, when the Grants’ decorative lights shut off, the nearby street lamp stretched a surreal silhouette of the reindeer that resembled a giant black stallion.
    On that particular night, the nefarious trio was brazen enough to pull up in front of the house just after the outdoor lighting went dark. They sat silently and stared into the windows. They could see the movements and hear the sounds of a household shutting down for the night: the TV flickering off, dishes clattering in the kitchen, pillows being fluffed, a phone ringing, muffled conversation, laughter in the distance. Eventually the lights went out downstairs and were turned on upstairs. There wasn’t much to see, but the simple act of watching from the shadows gave the guys a thrill. Somebody said he felt like Charles Manson, and they all had to struggle to stifle their laughter.
    After all the bedroom lights were turned off, Tony suggested they get out and take a walk around to get the lay of the land. “Make sure you keep your mouth shut,” he warned, “and don’t knock anythingover.” They silently worked their way through the front gate and onto the porch. A peek through the window convinced them the Grants had some serious money. This wasn’t the usual type of place they hit; this was a real step up. They noticed that the next-door neighbor’s house turned slightly toward the Grants’, and Tony made a mental note of that. He decided that, when they robbed the place, it would be prudent to wait until around three in the morning, when everyone in the neighborhood would be asleep, and not to turn on the houselights.
    They were exhilarated when they got back into the pickup truck. Danny pulled out a pint of vodka, and they passed it around. They knew this was going to be a piece of cake, so they were chomping at the bit to get this party started, and actually put their hands on the cash. The amount of money they were going to pocket in a matter of days would be more than any of them could earn in a year.
    Bags lit up a smoke, while Don Grant, who had gotten out of bed because he thought he heard footsteps on the porch followed by the slam of a car door, looked down from his bedroom window and watched the beacon from the cigarette swirl in the darkness. He thought it was a pretty odd scene, but then the truck drove away, and he shrugged and went back to bed. He and Linda had plans to finish packing the next day so they could leave for Florida by the end of the weekend, and he was exhausted.
    The gang drove by on Sunday afternoon and the manger and reindeer were no longer in the front yard. The three agreed that Danny was the most respectable-looking of the group, so they parked around the corner while he walked up to the front door and rang the bell. If anyone answered, he would just pretend he was looking for directions. No one answered. Tony still wasn’t convinced, so they drove around the front