CORVALLIS, Ore. - Mary K. Moran says she planted a fir tree next to her driveway 10 years ago and kept adding lights on to it every year. It had grown to about 20 feet when someone sawed it off this week.

"I got ready to drive to do my workout yesterday morning, backed up and realized something was missing. And there it is," Moran told KATU News. "I cried! We've had the tree for 10 years."

The story made the front page of the local paper, the Corvallis Gazette-Times. They're comparing the tree bandit to the Grinch.

Moran said whoever did this, came in the middle of the night between 10 p.m. Tuesday and sometime Wednesday morning.

"Didn't hear a thing, and our bedroom is right there," she said.

While the upper part of the tree is gone, the culprit took time to tear off the Christmas lights and throw them to the side.

Neighbors say it's a new low.

"We don't know if somebody stole it for a Christmas tree, it just seemed like vandalism," said neighbor Nancy Wilson.

Moran said she will take the remaining lights and decorate the three-foot stump the thief left behind.

"Our children and our grandchildren and neighbors rely on those lights every year," she said.

Corvallis police said whoever cut the tree could face theft charges.