This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

VACAVILLE -- A Vacaville family received an anonymous letter in the mail calling them Scrooges for not decorating their home in a neighborhood where many homeowners put up elaborate displays. But the family had a good reason for not decorating, and they are receiving a lot of support on social media.

The author of the letter told the Zarras it is "completely unacceptable to not decorate a house for Christmas if you live on Candy Cane or Lollipop Lane." The letter calls them disrespectful, rude and selfish because they didn't decorate.

But homeowner Lyndia Ives Zarra actually loves to decorate. Her mom, Cheri, hand-painted many decorations over the years, which are usually proudly displayed in the family's yard this time of year.

But Cheri passed away from cancer very recently. Due to grief over the loss of her mother, Lyndia refrained from decorating this year.

"When you get a letter like that, it's heartbreaking," Lyndia said Wednesday. "Because it's not like I was trying to make the street ugly or whatever. I just had to deal with my family and I."

Lyndia just needed space to grieve this year.

"Yes, I needed it, I didn't need somebody telling me how bad I was doing," she said.

Lyndia shared the nasty letter on the Solano County Community Awareness Facebook page and has received hundreds of messages of support.

38.356577 -121.987744