A Winnipeg grandmother said she's "cross beyond words" after an unknown tree thief sawed down most of a roughly one-metre-tall spruce tree in her front yard that she planted to commemorate the birth of her grandson.

"Who does that? Who does that, really? It's just so wrong on so many different levels," said Mich Williams, who lives on Youville Street in St. Boniface.

"I'm just shaking, I'm vibrating."

Williams was out Christmas shopping on Wednesday when she got a call from her dad telling her the tree was gone.

"I was like, 'What? No. No, that doesn't happen.' Sure enough, when I got home from downtown, the tree was gone and there was footprints and a stump," she said.

The culprit took roughly the top 75 centimetres off the tree, leaving the rest behind in the ground.

Mich Williams put up a sign shaming the person who cut down a spruce tree in her front yard days before Christmas. (CBC)

'Think about other people'

Williams planted the tree for her grandson Sidney when he was born 2½ years ago.

The little Colorado blue spruce was supposed to grow with him, she said. She chose the species because they're known to grow slowly, so Sidney could keep up.

She said Sidney doesn't understand what the tree symbolized, but he knows its absence upsets his family and so he's upset, too.

"I wanted him to grow up with this tree and have this tree as a perpetual celebration of his life. I guess that's not going to happen," she said.

'That doesn't happen' Mich Williams said, after someone cut down and stole most of a tree from her yard. (CBC)

Williams said she's not sure if what's left of her tree will survive and re-grow, and if it doesn't, she hasn't decided if she'll plant another.

Instead of the tree, Williams's yard is now adorned with a handmade sign — in English and French — reading "Whoever stole my little tree … shame on you!"

"I wanted to do something that would draw attention to this crime," Williams said of the sign.

"Whoever did this to this tree, they just didn't understand … and sometimes you just have to step back and think about other people instead of just yourself."

"If it was just a tree, I probably wouldn't have put the sign up. But it was more than just a tree to me and my family."