The Grinch of Beverly Hills: He'll Take Your Baby Jesus and Leave You to Whine

Times are tough all over, but they are particularly tough for one block in Beverly Hills, where there's been some un-neighborly thieving going on. On today's Huffington Post, Tom Gregory explains how the boundless joy of Christmas has been curtailed by someone helping themselves to people's Christmas decorations put out by Peter (Columbo) and Shera Falk, Charo, and Gregory himself. Wow, it's not such a wonderful life after all for the people who live on Jimmy Stewart's old block!

What's priceless isn't Mrs. Columbo's stolen $1000 elf, but rather this video that features the residents detailing what was stolen and how much they spent on it, actual surveillance video of thieves taking the wreath, and the ire expressed in the tone of voice used only by the truly spoiled at having to "chain down" their snowmen and reindeer lest the bandits make off with more of their merriment on display.

While stealing is indeed a crime, publicly bemoaning the loss of your thousand-dollar, twenty-pound elf decoration just might be more of crime. Whose heart bleeds for these Beverly Hills-ers--especially in a time when thousands of people are losing their jobs every day, and most people in So Cal are struggling just to stay afloat?

A better story to tell would be how you took all the money you would have spent putting Santa and his elves on your lawn and put it towards getting homeless people sheltered and fed during this chilly holiday season.

Only in Beverly Hills...