A little Christmas cheer has been snatched away from the McCarthy family thanks to a grinch who made off with festive decorations from their Fairy Meadow yard.
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Rebecca McCarthy awoke yesterday morning to discover a thief had struck during the night, stealing two large cherry blossom light trees, even taking the stakes that secured them.
"They tried to take the inflatable Santa too but the power cord was inside," she said.
"They've had a go but realised it was connected in the house."
Although each tree cost about $50, Mrs McCarthy said the money didn't matter.
"They could have cost a dollar, it doesn't matter, it's just not in the Christmas spirit," she said.
"It's a pretty lousy thing to steal Christmas lights.
"If they desperately needed lights, at whatever time of morning it might have been, they could have just knocked. It's the season of giving, they didn't need to steal them."
Mrs McCarthy said the new lights had brought so much joy to sons Geordie, 8, and Tully, 4, and attracted plenty of onlookers eager to top up Christmas spirit levels.
"They were lots of money and they were really light," Geordie said.
The theft has been reported to police, and a neighbour with CCTV cameras is planning to review footage from the night.
Mrs McCarthy urged people with expensive or elaborate Christmas decorations to bring them in at night to avoid theft.