Roger Powell browses holiday decorations Friday in the yard of his neighbor, John Humphrey. Thieves stole 15 of Humphrey's 3-D decorations between Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

A thief has dampened the Christmas spirit in a western Lawrence neighborhood by stealing pieces from an elaborate holiday display.

For about 20 years, John Humphrey has decorated his home and yard at 1320 Ranchero Drive with handmade decorations and lights – taking on the extra expense and effort to spread a little holiday joy.

But Humphrey’s neighbor Roger Powell said what happened late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning threatened to end the annual tradition.

Powell said Friday that an “unwelcomed” visitor took more than $1,000 worth of decorations.

“It’s not like they just came and took a lot of stuff and ran,” Powell said. “They probably had to have a pickup-size truck of some sort because everything was three-dimensional and it took a lot of effort to get them out.”

Humphrey didn’t want to talk about the incident; he said he was too disappointed.

Every year, there are one or two things that go missing, but this was the first time that so many items were taken, Powell said.

“He was pretty close to putting a sign out saying, you know, ‘Grinch stole Christmas. No more lights this year,'” Powell said.

John Humphrey, shown here at his Lawrence home in December 2004, has decorated his home and yard for Christmas for about 20 years. A thief stole about ,000 worth of decorations either late Wednesday or early Thursday, and Humphrey is very disappointed about it.

Many of the stolen items were handmade by Humphrey and his wife, Powell said. They were more valuable than their price tags.

In a past Journal-World interview, Humphrey said it took about five days to put up the yard display of about 20 lighted items and involved thousands of lights. He said he tried to top himself year after year.

Despite the theft, Powell said Humphrey was working Friday on a few replacements for passersby.

“It might not be as many lights, but he’s going to do what he can,” Powell said.

Neighbors estimate thousands of people come to see the display.

Sometimes, they even come by the bus-load. Brandon Woods Retirement Community staff members offer their residents a ride by the house seven or eight times a season. Sometimes they ask Humphrey to talk about the display.

“There are some nights as you get closer to Christmas where there are wall-to-wall cars – 20 cars in a row coming around the cul-de-sac coming to look at the lights,” Powell said.

Powell’s holiday wish is for the thief to return the items.