DENVER -- Colorado's governor is having an odd Thanksgiving. He woke up to find the front lawn of the governor's mansion covered in toilet paper.

Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter told a local TV station that he and his wife noticed shortly after dawn that someone had "teepeed" the front lawn. Officials say it's the first time in the mansion's 101-year history anyone has ever strung toilet paper in the yard.

Ritter joked about the prank, saying he has teenage children at home and that it was probably a prank. First Lady Jeannie Ritter said that she would be worried if the house was egged or damaged, but that the toilet paper prank is harmless.

She says, "Political statements are made with a different kind of paper."

The pranksters didn't get too close to the house because of the fence, so most of the toilet paper was strewn on the lawn and the trees. And if the Ritters really wanted to know who was responsible, they could. A surveillance camera hangs outside, near one of those paper-strewn trees.

The 1908 Georgian revival home is near the state Capitol in Denver.