A Sooke woman who was sent a grinchy anonymous letter is now receiving a festive flood of positivity, with no signs of it slowing down.
Earlier this week, Cheryl Dinse was sent an anonymous letter criticizing her Christmas decorations.
READ MORE: ‘A Christmas abortion’: Sooke woman receives anonymous letter criticizing her Christmas decorations
Dinse said the letter was hard to read, especially this year, as she is grieving the loss of her son who died in September.
She explained setting up the display was a way for her to deal with the grief.
“Every day that I would put them up I’d be spending maybe eight to 10 hours out here, and at the end of that I would kind of think about it and think, ‘Wow, I didn’t have any negative thoughts all day,” Dinse said.
Since the letter was made public on CHEK News and social media, Dinse has been flooded with positive messages.
She’s received hundreds of comments, direct messages, text messages and phone calls from people telling her how beautiful her display is.
“It’s been wonderful to read all the comments. I especially love the joking ones. They are amusing, they make me laugh, which is what I kind of need,” Dinse said.
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The home is pictured.
One Saanich woman wants to keep the positivity going and has started a Christmas cheer letter campaign.
Sarah Wakefielt is trying to get as many people as possible to mail Dinse happy holiday cards and letters to combat the negativity of the original anonymous note.
“Hopefully we can all give enough love to just put the negative letter back in the darkness where it belongs,” Wakefielt said.
She added the campaign is also aimed to show the person who sent the letter that the holiday season is about kindness, respect and compassion.
Wakefielt compared the situation to Dr. Seuss’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” when the Grinch tried to steal the Christmas cheer.
“Really that’s what happened in the book, is the Who’s came up and started singing and showed the Grinch that, you know, you can try and bring the negativity, but in the end they just came together anyway,” she explained.
Some residents also planned a Christmas carol sing-along outside Dinse’s house Friday night to show their support.
Dinse said she is overwhelmed by all the love and support.
She added her lights aren’t going anywhere and is even planning to add a few more decorations next year.
Mackenzie Read
