CINCINNATI — It's not the Christmas morning anyone wishes for. The owners of one East Walnut Hills pet supply store found the store's glass shattered and cash registers emptied Saturday.

Argos Natural Pet Food & Supply was just one of the businesses along Woodburn Avenue broken into overnight.

"Ten cars have been broken into along with our store and another store down the street," Simon Coriell said.

Thieves took off with their register and donation jar — owner Elisabeth Mayer said they likely stole around $2,000.

"I definitely felt violated," Mayer said. "I know times are tough right now and I'm not sure you needed this money so desperately...but just know that you took funds that our customers were gracious enough to put in the donation jar — and there were a lot of funds in there to go to Animal Rescue, which is really near and dear to my heart."

The jar and register were found empty a few blocks away from the store. While they may have been there for the money, Mayer said, one of the cats inside the store climbed out of the window during the break-in. A neighbor found the cat, Precious, outside and safely returned her.

"What would have devastated me the most would have been if something had happened to one of those cats," Mayer said. "You know, money's money, but to me those cats are precious."

While the investigation is ongoing, business will continue as usual. Argos Pet Food & Supply plans to open Sunday, asking customers to help refill their donation jar.

"You know, we will live and learn from this, and we have a big supportive neighborhood that will help us out, but we didn't lose that much and everyone is safe," Coriell said.

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CINCINNATI — From canceled flights to canceled gatherings, COVID-19 is throwing a wrench in some Christmas plans.

Ohio reported 14,414 new COVID cases and 443 deaths in the last 24 hours. Still, the latest surge is not stopping families from enjoying the holidays — even if that means the celebrations are not fully back to pre-pandemic days.

Dartanyn Dixon and his family enjoyed their Christmas Eve on ice at Fountain Square.

"This year is different because everything is wide open now," Dixon said. "We got this beautiful thing going on downtown."

Downtown Cincinnati showed a different picture from last year as more families enjoyed the day outside their homes.

"[Last year] was more of a stay-at-home Christmas than it usually is in my family. We celebrated in a big way, but it was mostly just us as a family," UC student Keya Nandi said. "It still is that prevalent, but I'm just looking forward to going out more hopefully and celebrating it in a better way compared to last year."

Nandi is right that the virus is still prevalent, with Ohio shattering its daily COVID case record Thursday. Health leaders urged the public to be careful ahead of the holiday, encouraging booster shots.

"With these numbers, we have a troubling picture — one that should be a wake-up call for every Ohioan as we think about our risk of getting sick with COVID-19, especially as we think about gatherings with loved ones for the holidays," said Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, the state's health director.

Many in town Friday said they still plan to be careful while enjoying the holidays with loved ones — especially with near-record warmth.

"It's going to be nice weather, so we're able to kind of get outside," Eileen Schwab said. "Especially after last year, I think everybody is looking forward to seeing each other and being with family and people you love and being at peace."

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