Dad died of COVID, but his Christmas lights comforted family. Then came ‘rude’ letter

Sara Pascucci says her father loved the holiday season.

“He was always into Christmas, and those are our fond memories that we have of him, just always decorating and doing a lot of stuff during Christmas,” the Bethpage, New York, woman told WLNY.

He even hung the Christmas lights on Pascucci’s home this holiday season.

But on Christmas Eve, her family came down with COVID-19, the outlet reported. Her 61-year-old father would die from the virus on Jan. 15. It also claimed the life of her 70-year-old aunt.

Pascucci and her family grieved as they planned two funerals, WCBS reported. Taking down the Christmas lights her father had hung was one of the furthest things from her mind — on the contrary, Pascucci said the lights provided comfort in an otherwise difficult time.

But Tuesday, Pascucci was among several people in her neighborhood who received anonymous letters demanding they remove their lights, according to WLNY.

The letter read: “Take your Christmas lights down! It’s Valentine’s Day!!!!!!” WABC reported. It had no return address and was postmarked Jan. 30.

Pascucci said she and her family were taken aback.

“We haven’t had time to really do anything besides funeral arrangements,” she told WNBC. “We have the house now that… it was left to me and my brother and we’re trying to figure that out. You know, stuff that’s actually important, not Christmas lights.”

Pascucci added that it’s “very hard to take something down that your father enjoyed and put up for your family,” WCBS reported.

As news of the letters spread through the Long Island community, some neighbors were brought to tears on behalf of Pascucci and her family, according to the radio station.

“It’s terrible,” one neighbor told the station. “With everything going on out there, could you be a little nicer instead of dragging somebody down just because they left their Christmas lights up?”

Lori Kelly also received a copy of the letter and said her husband hurt his back and has been unable to take down their holiday decorations, WABC reported.

“I thought it was really rude, especially now with COVID and everything going on,” Kelly told WLNY. “Mind your own business. This is my property, so if I want to leave my Christmas lights on all year long, I will.”

John Fazio, who also got the letter, guessed the incident was the product of boredom.

“I guess some just people have extra time to be mean or, you know, they have nothing else better to do than attack people,” he told WABC.

Some neighbors said they’re planning to pull out their Christmas decorations and put them back up to show their support for Pascucci and the others, WNBC reported.

Pascucci said the support of neighbors has made the experience easier to stomach.

“It made me feel a lot better so this letter is not even something that hurts anymore because of everyone’s love and support,” Pascucci told WCBS.

This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 9:08 AM with the headline "Dad died of COVID, but his Christmas lights comforted family. Then came ‘rude’ letter."