{"id":106880,"date":"2025-01-08T11:49:07","date_gmt":"2025-01-08T04:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/?p=106880"},"modified":"2025-01-08T14:11:20","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T07:11:20","slug":"my-neighbor-refused-to-stop-her-kids-from-knocking-over-my-holiday-lawn-display","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/my-neighbor-refused-to-stop-her-kids-from-knocking-over-my-holiday-lawn-display\/","title":{"rendered":"My Neighbor Refused to Stop Her Kids from Knocking over My Holiday Lawn Display"},"content":{"rendered":"

This past December, I turned my front yard into a holiday wonderland. Reindeer with twinkle lights pranced across the lawn, an inflatable Santa waved at passersby, and a massive rainbow-lit sleigh took center stage.\n

I spent many days setting up, and I know most people would say that I went too far, especially because I don\u2019t live in the most festive area. But every night, I enjoyed the glow from my living room, sipping cocoa and basking in the festive spirit. It was worth it.\n

$\"\"$ \n

One evening, I was distracted cleaning up my kitchen when I heard a crash.\n

Startled, I rushed to the window. To my surprise, my neighbor Linda\u2019s kids, Ethan, Mia, and little Jacob were right outside, tearing through my yard like it was a playground\u2026except they wanted to destroy everything in their path.\n

Ethan was 11, so he was old enough to understand what he was doing wrong. But still, he climbed into the sleigh and began shaking it for some reason. I didn\u2019t know if he was trying to topple it or pretending to ride it.\n

$\"\"$ \n

Meanwhile, eight-year-old Mia yanked the lights off the reindeer, giggling. Finally, their little brother kicked at the inflatable Santa until it wobbled dangerously.\n

I couldn\u2019t believe it. But the worst part was that their mother was sitting right on her porch, scrolling through her phone.\n

With a huff, I threw on my coat and marched outside. I tried to call the kids\u2019 attention, but that was impossible, so I went to my neighbor.\n

\u201cLinda!\u201d I called, waving my arms to get her attention.\n

Her head barely lifted. \u201cWhat?\u201d she asked, irritated.\n

\u201cYour kids are wrecking my decorations! Didn\u2019t you see them?\u201d I gestured at Ethan, who was now jumping up and down inside my sleigh. \u201cCan you get them out of my yard?\u201d\n

Linda glanced up, shrugged, and went back to her phone. \u201cThey\u2019re just kids having fun. What\u2019s the big deal?\u201d\n

I gawked at her. \u201cExcuse me? The big deal is that they\u2019re destroying my property!\u201d\n

After rolling her eyes, Linda finally met my gaze. \u201cMaybe if your display wasn\u2019t so flashy, it wouldn\u2019t attract attention.\u201d\n

My mouth dropped.\n

Her lips then curled into a smug smile. \u201cBesides, you\u2019re rich enough to fix it, aren\u2019t you?\u201d\n

Rich? Where did she get that idea? Sure, I had spent a pretty penny on the decorations, but that didn\u2019t make me a millionaire. These items had been an investment toward my happiness for the season after a tough year.\n

$\"\"$ \n

Also, that wasn\u2019t the point! Her kids didn\u2019t have the right to damage other people\u2019s property, even if I could afford to replace everything easily.\n

As I tried to calm myself, so I wouldn\u2019t start yelling, Ethan jumped out of the sleigh, laughing. \u201cNice sleigh. Too bad it\u2019s gonna fall over!\u201d\n

He even kicked one of the reindeer for good measure.\n

Mia giggled some more. \u201cDo that again!\u201d she asked her brother and clapped as her eyes met mine. \u201cYou\u2019ll just fix it,\u201d she added. \u201cYou\u2019re obsessed with that stuff!\u201d\n

The rage coursing through me over mere yard decorations confirmed it: I had become one of those old people. But honestly, these kids were acting completely spoiled and entitled.\n

Still, yelling at them to \u201cGet off my lawn!\u201d wasn\u2019t going to do me any good, so I took another deep breath, turning to my neighbor again.\n

\u201cLinda, let\u2019s be reasonable. I understand kids will be kids, but this is just plain disrespectful. Can you please do something?\u201d\n

Linda snorted. \u201cCan\u2019t you see that I\u2019m busy?\u201d she raised her phone to emphasize her point. \u201cIt\u2019s just decorations. Get over it. Besides, the kids are already on to something else.\u201d\n

With that, she stood up and went into her house.\n

I turned and noticed she was right. Her children were off my lawn and onto someone else\u2019s. But my decorations were skewed, and my inflatable Santa was now dirty with shoe marks from Jacob\u2019s kicks.\n

After rearranging everything, I heard the three kids running back to their house and laughing. It was a taunting sound, but I hoped that one day of being rowdy was enough for them.\n

I was not so lucky.\n

The vandalism continued. Every night, Linda\u2019s kids turned my decorations into chaos, and I didn\u2019t always hear it. They had become sneaky. It was a game to them.\n

$\"\"$ \n

One morning, I found my sleigh tipped over. The lights on the reindeer were completely ruined, and my Santa was fully deflated.\n

Looking back at my security camera footage was heartbreaking. They were all laughing as they destroyed my hard work, their intentions clearly malicious. Well, maybe not little Jacob; he probably just followed his siblings\u2019 lead. But it was still wrong.\n

I decided to confront Linda again. I marched over with my laptop, ready to show her the footage. \u201cLook,\u201d I said, hitting play. \u201cThis is your kids wrecking my yard. AGAIN.\u201d\n

Linda smirked. \u201cCute video.\u201d\n

\u201cAre you serious?\u201d I asked, outraged. \u201cI could show this to our HOA or call the police!\u201d\n

She barked a laugh. \u201cDo whatever you need to do, sweetheart. It\u2019s just decorations. They\u2019ll laugh at you for making a fuss over something so ridiculous. Now, stop bothering me with these stupid things.\u201d\n

$\"\"$ \n

She went back inside and slammed her door in my face.\n

That was it. I was done being nice about it. But what could I do? These were kids, after all, with an irresponsible mother. She was the one who needed to learn a real lesson.\n

I stared at my decorations and considered what I could do, and as the sun caught on the shiny red sleigh that I\u2019d just righted, an idea struck.\n

An hour later, I emerged from the craft store, armed with industrial-strength spray adhesive and several tubs of glitter. Carefully, I took each of my decorations into the garage, which I\u2019d covered in plastic as best I could, and used gloves as I went to work.\n

I meticulously coated every decoration, careful to match the original colors so nothing seemed amiss. Once suitably dry, I carefully transported the sleigh, the Santa, and the reindeer back to their places of honor in my yard.\n

I added another generous layer of spray adhesive, just to be sure. I also made a sign that read: \u201cCaution: Property Protected by Holiday Magic!\u201d\n

I went inside and waited. Sure enough, as soon as the sun set, I heard giggles. I peeked through the curtains and saw Ethan lead the charge, with Mia and Jacob close behind.\n

\u201cLook at this stupid sign!\u201d he laughed as he kicked it, making his siblings giggle even louder.\n

Then, they made a beeline for the sleigh.\n

Ethan climbed in and grabbed the glitter-coated reins. Mia ran her hands along the reindeer\u2019s back, while Jacob tried to pull off one of the gift boxes near the base of the sleigh.\n

None of them noticed anything for a few seconds.\n

But then came an \u201cEww!\u201d, swift and satisfying, like music to my ears.\n

\u201cWhy is this sticky?\u201d Ethan yelped, pulling his hand back. \u201cEwww!\u201d\n

Mia stared at her hands, now covered in glitter. \u201cI\u2019m shining!\u201d she said, not seeming too upset, but I knew who would be soon.\n

$\"\"$ \n

Jacob, the youngest, frowned. \u201cIt won\u2019t come off!\u201d He rubbed his hands on his pants, only spreading the glitter further.\n

Ethan got out of the sleigh and noticed his clothes were also covered in glitter. He urged the others to go back to their house, and I heard them screaming, \u201cMom!\u201d\n

With a steaming cup of hot cocoa in hand and a pashmina wrapped around my shoulders, I went out and sat on my porch.\n

It took only a few minutes for Linda to storm out. \u201cWhat did you do?\u201d she shrieked, pointing at her house where her kids waited, covered in glitter.\n

I shrugged. \u201cI warned you, Linda. I had to protect my property.\u201d\n

\u201cYou\u2019re insane!\u201d she yelled. \u201cDo you know how hard it is to get glitter out of clothes? Out of the house?\u201d\n

\u201cMaybe if your kids hadn\u2019t touched my stuff, they wouldn\u2019t be covered in it,\u201d I said, taking a sip of my cocoa\n

Linda huffed, muttering about my \u201cpettiness\u201d as she stomped back to her house.\n

Later that evening, I saw her dragging a vacuum cleaner out of her car from my window. I couldn\u2019t help but chuckle.\n

It took them days to get rid of all the glitter. Justice, it seemed, came bright and shiny.\n

Her kids stayed clear of my yard from that day on, and surprisingly, other neighbors heard what I\u2019d done and thanked me. Turns out, Linda\u2019s kids had messed with their decorations too.\n

So, would I do it again? Absolutely.\n

And next Christmas, I\u2019m going even bigger with my decorations. Just to spite Linda.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I thought my holiday lawn display was festive and fun until my neighbor\u2019s kids treated it like a playground. Their mom didn\u2019t care, so I had to get creative with a clever solution that left them all\u2026 sparkling. Now that the holidays are over, and I\u2019ve finally cleaned up the aftermath, I can tell this\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":106960,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[855],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-106880","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-story"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/MY-NEIGHBOR-REFUSED-TO-STOP-HER-KIDS-FROM-KNOCKING-OVER-MY-HOLIDAY-LAWN-DISPLAY.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106880"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106976,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106880\/revisions\/106976"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justmetalking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}