Gnome come home

By Ed Merrison
AN ERRANT garden gnome has inspired the annual growth of a Christmas light show in Kallista.
A luminous Santa towers over the shrubs, fairy lights twist round an old-fashioned lamp post and lights twinkle from the treetops of Bill and Maureen Quinton’s Oceanview Crescent property.
The couple has always celebrated Christmas, but the disappearance of their garden gnome four years ago has led them to ever more extravagant shows of festive warmth.
The light show is part of the couple’s bid to lure home the gnome, who left an enigmatic message when he vanished.
The note read: “I’ve always wanted to travel, so I jumped on Santa’s sleigh to travel the world.”
Mr Quinton remembers the very gnome that was taken from the base of a garden tree thronged by the gnomes he left behind.
“He just had that expression on his face – a sort of wanderer’s expression,” Mr Quinton said.
The gnome has not returned from his reindeer-drawn wanderings, but every Christmas since his departure the Quintons have received a postcard wishing them a happy Christmas and assuring them the little fellow is well.
The postcards are sent from a different place every year, with last year’s posted from Tasmania.
The correspondence is personally addressed to Mr and Mrs Quinton, raising suspicions the gnome’s abductor was known to the family. “We’ve asked all our friends and neighbours, but they all say they’re not guilty,” Ms Quinton said.
Ms Quinton said the light show had become an attraction in itself.
“The grandkids always talk about it and the children across the street can’t get enough of it.
“Of course, the mystery’s part of the fun,” she said.
But Mr Quinton said he was thinking of offering a reward for information leading to the return of the gnome if he does not show up by Christmas Eve.
Mr Quinton remained quietly confident, however, that this year’s festive beacon would be enough to draw the diminutive nomad home. “This could be the year. We’re trying to make him welcome when he arrives.
“He might bring back a wife and children, who knows? The story goes on and on,” he said.