Toys ‘r Beer? : Gift Taking: The thieves took his van, his family’s gifts and two six-packs. They drank the spirits and left the cheer.

As Victor Diaz sees it, the thieves who stole his van had so much fun drinking the two six-packs of Budweiser he left on a front seat that they forgot about the $564 worth of Christmas toys in the back.

Diaz’s van was stolen from the driveway of his Sepulveda home Monday night. Angered and concerned that his family’s Christmas would be ruined, he searched until he found the vehicle Tuesday morning near El Dorado Avenue and Pierce Street in Pacoima.

“My jaws dropped when I saw the toys in there,” said Diaz, a maintenance worker. “Every hair on my body went up. The officer said, ‘This never happens.’ ”

The cans of beer, however, were gone.

Monday night, Diaz spent two hours at a toy store near his home, buying a large, red electric jeep, a stereo, a bicycle and other items for his four children, ages 3 to 12. He left the toys atop bricks scattered in the unlocked van, planning to hide them in the garage after his children fell asleep.

But at 11 p.m. when he looked out to open the garage, Diaz saw that his van was gone. He called police and took his wife’s car to cruise a three-mile area around the neighborhood for two hours, returning after an unsuccessful search to tell a few white lies.

“I didn’t like the truck anyway,’ ” Diaz told his wife, Blanca.

Diaz said the couple went to bed with teary eyes. He imagined the car thieves opening the gifts, especially the $195 jeep, and saying “Oh yeah, all right.” And although he told his wife, their two daughters and two sons that they would have a Christmas, Diaz had no idea how he would pull it off.

He woke not long after sunrise to search again. “I went to Winchell’s Donuts, and I found a penny in the parking lot. I picked it up and thought ‘I hope I find my truck.’ ”

When Diaz found it, he was so nervous he drove up and down the street three times, never taking his eyes off the van, and wondering what to do next. He called the police and an officer responded.

Gone from the van were a set of wrenches, a small stool-like table, a pink bunny purse belonging to a daughter, and the beer. The ignition and starter had to be replaced because of damage caused by the thieves.

Diaz said he doesn’t wish the thieves ill. But he is warning neighbors to lock their cars, even when they’re in a driveway, and spurred by his successful second search he is telling them not to “give up your ship so quickly.”

Wednesday afternoon, with the toys hidden, Diaz was able to laugh about the incident and joke about the sticker on the back of his van.

The sticker said “Life’s a bear.”