Thieves aren't just knocking off churches or convenience stores this holiday season, cemeterys are also getting hit.

One family hopes the person or the people responsible for stealing from their cemetery will think twice before causing the same kind of pain for another family.

Don Gillespie will spend this Christmas without his wife Wimpy for the first time in 51 years.

“She's a very special lady,” said Gillespie. “She had a big heart, was a Christian woman and was very dedicated to her church and family.”

But on Sunday, the family was at her gravestone with an even heavier heart because the decorations they put there for the holiday have disappeared.

A Christmas tree and a solar angel...gone.

So, the family is sending a message.

“To the person that stole the Christmas tree and the solar angel on the grave of Wimpy Gillespie at the Kirkland, her family hopes you and your family enjoy it,” said Gillespie. “Happy Holidays.”

Vandalism difficult to understand for more than one reason.

“If those appear on a grave somewhere a family member might think where did you get that, and might question it and make somebody accountable,” said Gillespie. “We'll never know, but somebody might know.”

Knowing someone has a guilty conscience is a reward that has no price tag.

Just last weekend, vandals toppled hundreds of tombstones in one of Portsmouth’s oldest cemeteries. Some are damaged beyond repair and some are more than 100 years old. Because of the size and number of monuments toppled, police believe more than one person was involved.