BY KEITH LACEY
Tears running down her face, Chantal Paquin says neighbourhood thieves have gone a long way to ruin Christmas for her 10-year-old son.
 |
Chantal Paquin of Chelmsford hopes whoever stole from her family will return her son?s bike and the holiday decorations. |
Two weeks ago, thieves took off with her son?s new BMX bicycle. It was locked with a heavy chain outside his school while he attended badminton practice. And just last week, the single mother opened a storage shed outside her Chelmsford apartment building and discovered thieves had stolen a large box containing numerous Christmas decorations and personal items.
?I cry myself to sleep every night knowing I can?t give my son the Christmas he deserves. First his bike and then all the Christmas stuff. What?s next??
Included among the items stolen from the storage shed are a Christmas Elf outfit she?d worn for years while handing out gifts, her son?s first Christmas ornament with his baby picture in it, a special tea set she inherited from her stepmother, and a wreath and centrepiece her son?s godmother had given to
the family.
?I?m just devastated,? said Paquin, 40. ?How am I supposed to provide any kind of Christmas for me and my son after all of this??
This is the sixth time her son?s bicycle has been stolen in four years.
As a single mother who has returned to school as a mature student, Paquin said money is tight. ?This was a special bike he?d wanted for years and I had managed to save enough money to get him one for his Grade 8 graduation,? she said. ?A bike is a cherished thing to a young boy and this is just heartbreaking.?
The parents of the person who took her son?s bike should be asking questions, and she hopes and prays the bike will be returned, said Paquin.
?I just don?t know how any parent could see their child come home with a different bike and not inquire as to where it came from,? she said.
Having the Christmas decorations stolen is equally upsetting, she said.
?I?ve always tried to make Christmas special for me and my son, but it?s going to be impossible this year,? she said.
Paquin doesn?t want to move from the apartment she's called home for 14 years. Her landlord charges decent rent for a two bedroom apartment, her mother lives in the same building and she?s close to all amenities in Chelmsford, she said.
If the thieves don?t return the bike or decorations, it?s going to be a very sad Christmas, said Paquin.
?I have a tree left, but nothing to put on it,? she said. ?All of these things stolen have great sentimental value to me and my son and they are impossible
to replace.?