Kids' gifts to family stolen

The gifts they bought for their mom and grandmother were stolen right from under their Christmas tree.

It was a disturbing site for the family when they came home to find the house ransacked, belongings stolen and presents gone from under the tree. For the two youngest victims, it's not about what they were getting this Christmas, but what they were giving.

"It's hard to find meaning in an act like that and even harder to explain it to children," said victim Patti Coleman.

Patti Coleman says her two grandsons are still shaken up by what they came home to last Friday night.

"They poured stuff on the carpet and I had a lot of paperwork that was disturbed," Coleman told us.

The grandmother says her Willis home was ransacked. A TV, computer and sewing machine were stolen but Colby, 6, noticed something else.

"I looked under the tree and there was nothing under there," he said.

"The kids are still rattled by it, they cried themselves to sleep that night mainly because their little gifts were gone," Coleman said.

But it wasn't gifts for the two boys rather from them. Colby and his older brother Chance purchased the gifts for their mom, grandma and other relatives through a school program called Santa's Workshop.

"It had a finger in the middle and you could put rings on it," Chance said.

Coleman says it's been difficult to forget about what happened in her living room.

Investigators say the Coleman home wasn't the only one targeted in the neighborhood. They say there were no obvious signs of forced entry but believe the thieves entered somehow through the front door.

Fortunately the thieves dropped one gift on their way out.

"I hope whoever did this has a change of heart and doesn't wreck anyone else's Christmas," Coleman said.

Coleman says she's using the experience to teach her grandchildren a few lessons and show them what the spirit of the season is all about.

"I told them number one, love your enemies no matter what," Coleman said. "Not so much the gifts but just us being together."

There is an ongoing investigation of the recent burglaries in the Indian Hills subdivision. If you have any information you are asked to call the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department

You can read more about this Grinch in our Houston Community Newspaper partner, The Courier.