Every year our nieces and nephews and all their kids make the long drives from out of town to come here for Olds Fashioned Christmas.
Everyone is excited to visit the "oldsters" and take in the parade and all the fun, activities, lights and food.
Parking is at a premium. Usually you park wherever you can find a spot for an hour or two.
This year, the niece and nephew parked over by the Olds Registries across from the park.
Everyone had a great time and were all excited, but upon returning, found they had been visited by the grinch who had smeared dry mud all over the windshields and hoods of their vehicles.
It certainly took some effort to dig up the mud, as the ground was frozen solid.
In addition to the shock at what had happened and the expense of getting their vehicles cleaned, we were also deeply embarrassed that this type of thing had occurred in our town, a place we have come to love and proudly advertise to everyone we meet.
We are all too aware that grinches exist everywhere in society and are often never caught in acts of vandalism and made to take responsibility for their actions.
They do however never truly "get away with it" as they will always know what they did, and there is no time limitation on guilt or the damage to self respect.
The huge effort of all those who contributed to make Olds Fashioned Christmas a big success again this year is greatly appreciated, and we would like to thank all those involved.
We look forward to next year's Olds Fashioned Christmas as well, but hopefully without any visit from the grinch.
Grant Westcott,
Olds
