LINCOLN, NE—The Hallendy family blissfully spent their Sunday afternoon decorating their Christmas tree with the traditional lights and ornaments, unaware that a wolf-in-sheep's-clothing was lurking among them.
The culprit, 2-year-old Lacey Hallendy, was openly delighted at the presence of the tree, and watched in awe as her father, Paul, 35, placed it in a stand. Unbeknownst to anyone else in the home, Lacey was already carefully planning the tree's demise. She took careful note of how the stand functioned, though she outwardly expressed only general interest in the novelty of the decorative tree. Then, in full Machiavellian fashion, the young girl suppressed the urge to pull the object of beauty and symbolism directly onto the floor when she saw that fragile ornaments were standing by to don it.
With carefully hidden calculation, the small girl with an affinity for graham crackers put on a charade of helping her parents place the ornaments on the branches, though she was strategically doing all she could to make it lopsided, with heavier ornaments placed higher and all on one side, and then glass or other fragile ones scattered on the same side.
"Awww. Isn't that cute?" asked her naive parents. "She doesn't understand how to spread them out. That's okay, we will move some of them after she's asleep."
Lacey, upon seeing the arch of the tree under the poorly distributed weight, found herself breathless for a moment as she foresaw the glorious display of chaotic mayhem and destruction that would soon unfold. She allowed a smile, knowing that her halfwit parents would misattribute it to childhood wonder.
"Now, I wait," she thought. "The time must be ripe. I must have no witnesses, and a plausible scapegoat—the hound..." she said, referring to their 1-year-old beagle mix.
As of press time, Lacey was in the living room, playing with dolls near the wall opposite the tree when their dog entered the room. Seeing her opportunity, she innocently asked her mother if she would be so kind as to retrieve her a glass of milk from the kitchen.