A Hampton family says a fun holiday tradtion has taken a turn after someone messed with their lights.
For 15 years, Chuck Lawson and his grandson, Hunter, have made it a thing to decorate their house in Hampton, New Hampshire, with countless Christmas lights.
"There's people who come by constantly," Chuck Lawson said.
Each year, they keep on adding more.
"We look forward to seeing the display. It's the best we've seen," said neighbor Courtney Turner, who likes to drive her children by the Lawsons' home every other night.
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"We know that these are up every year. And they just bring you into the holiday spirit," said Susan Cook, while on her nightly walk with her husband.
The Lawsons' home has become a place for cheer leading up to Christmas in Hampton — at least until someone decided to cut down all of the joy.
"I don't understand people wanting to do this," Lawson said.
The issues started last year when every three days or so, the Lawsons would find a new set of cables clipped.
A wildlife camera captured two people on the Lawsons' property messing with their lights, and now it's happening again. They found wires split overnight on Monday.
"Look at all the wires. I can't put this back together. I've tried," said Chuck Lawson.
Putting up the lights isn't just a pastime for 19-year-old Hunter Lawson.
"I'm out here from morning until dark," he said.
The lights mean a lot to him.
"It started when I was a little kid [after] my mom passed away," he noted.
Christmas was his mother's favorite holiday, and each string of lights reminds him of her spirit.
"She'd be proud," he said.
The mystery vandals almost kept the Lawsons from setting up lights at all this year, until they remembered why they do it in the first place.
"It makes you smile. It makes everybody smile," Chuck Lawson said.
He just hopes the vandals cut it out.
"What goes around comes around. Eventually," he said.
The Lawsons are having cameras set up next week. They're hoping no one cuts the wires to those, and if they do, they are betting on catching them in the act.
