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Lollipop Lane Resident Takes Her Licks From Neighbor Over Lack Of Christmas Decorations

VACAVILLE (CBS13) — A Vacaville woman received a letter this week accusing her of ruining Christmas for her entire neighborhood. And it all happened after she decided not to decorate the outside of her home.

"I had to think about my family and myself before the city of Vacaville and Lollipop Lane," said Lyndia Zarra, who lives on Shady Glen Avenue.

She received an anonymous letter the day after Christmas criticizing her lack of holiday decorations.

It read, in part, "To live on Lollipop Lane & Candy Cane Lane is an honor and a privilege. It is completely unacceptable to NOT decorate a house for Christmas if you live on Candy Cane Lane or Lollipop Lane."

"Seeing me not decorate, I don't see one of my neighbors being the person to tell me 'Hey, you should have!" Zarra said.

The letter goes on to say "It is extremely disrespectful, rude and selfish to not decorate a house on these two special and unique streets for the holidays. And tens of thousands of people wish all the Scrooges would not destroy our cities traditions for their own selfish reasons."

"This is the first year I didn't decorate since I moved here because my mother passed away," Zarra explained.

She told CBS13 that she and her mother loved to recreate Disney characters on their front lawn.

"We have Steamboat Willie and Oswald and then Mickey Mouse and Fantasia, things like that," Zarra said. "Some of my neighbors are a bit hurt that this happened. Most of my neighbors know what I was going through."

After caring for her mother for some time, she died of lung cancer on Oct. 13.

"I didn't put them out, so I didn't have to be looking at her artwork every day," Zarra said. "All my Christmas decorations are my mother's artwork. I just couldn't bear it."

Many of her neighbors were shocked at the audacity of the person who sent the letter.

"I'd say it's not very Christmassy!" said Joel Dinsdale.

"That's kind of crazy," said Dan Cullinan. "It's like telling me how I gotta dress and, like, how I have to act. And it might be some scrooge themselves!"

And though these words only added to her grief, Zarra is determined not to let the writer ruin the rest of the season.

"The whole point of the neighborhood is to bring joy at this time of year!" she told CBS 13. "We all have to respect each other's space and be kind to one another!"

CBS 13 spoke to another woman on the street who said she got a similar letter about four years ago. She never found out who wrote it, but it mentioned her obligation to decorate while living on Lollipop Lane.

As for Zarra, she does plan to decorate next year because she doesn't want her mom's artwork to go unseen.

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