What very easily could have turned into "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" for Helena School District librarians instead became a surprisingly sweet Christmas-time tale.

Finding their archives thrashed and chocolate-covered, Capital High School librarians and district advisers, along with their families, took the situation with a grain of sugar and called for backup.

"Normally, chocolate coating is a good thing," Helena School District library coordinator Suzi Watne said, while helping reorganize hundreds of books that were shoved off the shelves by vandals early Sunday morning.

Chocolate syrup was splashed across a dozen of the library's 40 computers. The sugary substance was squeezed onto copy machine keypads and into computer ports, poured upon novels and the library's carpet.

"It definitely was not a chocolate lover or a reader who did this. A chocolate lover wouldn't waste this much chocolate -- it must have been a vanilla fan," Watne said.

Helena Police Chief Troy McGee said the culprit or culprits likely entered the school building through an unlocked window sometime over the weekend.

The vandalism is under investigation. Anyone with any information about the incident is urged to call Crimestoppers at 443-2000 or the Helena Police Department at 442-3233.

A member of the school's custodial staff, Karl Kallin, found the mess at about 5 a.m. on Christmas Eve.

He alerted the police and called his wife, Karen Kallin, who is the general secretary of the district's Instructional Materials Center, to get the phone numbers of the school's administration.

Tuesday morning, a dozen volunteers showed up at the school to remediate the library and its contents. The smell of cocoa filled the library and mixed in the air with the sounds of holiday music.

"There's good that comes from unfortunate decisions some people make," Capital librarian Jeanne Tweeten said.

Despite the light-hearted camaraderie of the volunteers, she said, the incident was anything but humorous.

Tweeten said she was "heartsick" when she heard about the vandalism. Pottery done by the high school's students was thrown to the floor, leaving shards of glazed clay next to the books. Books, some valuable first editions, were spattered with chocolate syrup.

"It's sort of like desecrating a church to me. What did the books ever do to hurt anybody? They're here to help," she said as she returned literature to its proper place.

Barbara Ridgway, a district administrator who supervises the city's libraries, brought in her family members, some of who were in town from Big Timber for the holidays.

"We've got to stick together and make a party out of a bad situation. That's what we do," Four Georgians Elementary School teacher Helga Stinson said about Tuesday's gathering.

Those cleaning the gooey mess were looking on the bright side of the incident.

It could be worse, Stinson said.

"Nobody was hurt -- we're still alive and well -- we can clean it up. It's going to be OK," Watne said as she taught niece Lacy Little of Bozeman the rules of "library land," like guiding all books to the edge of the shelf.

HPS facilities manager Dave Powell said the costs of the damage will be assessed and covered by the district's insurance provider, Western State Insurance.

The fees involved with the vandalism are not likely to affect the schools' insurance dues, Western State agent Dave Pilatzke said, while he was investigating the damage.

The library might have been marred, but the same is not true for the spirit of those straightening up the clutter.

"New Year's Eve, we'll be toasting, 'Ah, that one's taken care of,'" Watne said as she flung her hands in dismissal of the disarray.

The facility should be up and running when school resumes Tuesday.

Angela Brandt can be reached at 447-4078 or angela.brandt@helenair.com.