Santa Claus has been kidnapped. A Vancouver couple are wondering why.
It happened overnight on Hayden Island, according to Larry and Betty Aberg, who have made their boat, the Bubinga, a proud part of the Christmas Ships flotilla that delights spectators every holiday season along the Columbia River.
A little part of that delight is the way the Abergs decorate their boat: a waving Santa Claus driving a team of reindeer while a green Grinch leers over the presents he’s already stolen. It’s all lit up with hundreds of LED lights that can be seen at night from the river’s shoreline.
The Abergs usually park the Bubinga — the name refers to an African rosewood — at the Hayden Bay Marina near the Oxford Suites Hotel on Jantzen Beach in Portland.
On Wednesday night, the couple pulled out of storage their homemade Santa on his sleigh, loaded him into their pickup, covered him with a tarp, drove over and parked in front of the Oxford Suites. They were tired and figured they’d be back in the morning to wrestle Santa down to their moorage and onto their boat.
On Thanksgiving morning, though, the Abergs were stunned to discover that Santa had been stolen overnight along with his sleigh, which Betty Aberg said must weigh 300 pounds, and ropes of LED lights worth about $500.
Quite a heavy haul, Betty Aberg said.
“In part it’s our fault because we did park it overnight, we just left it there,” she said. “But it’s not something you just grab and go. There must have been two of them and they had to work at it. They must have had a truck.
“I guess maybe you could hock the lights but what are you going to do with a stolen Santa sleigh? Put it on top of your house?” she added.
The missing Santa Claus won’t keep the Abergs from participating in the Christmas Ships parade, she promised.
“The running deer won’t have Santa driving them,” she said, but they’ll run anyway.
The Abergs will be featured in a Columbian story about the Christmas Ships on Sunday. It was written before Santa went missing.
