‘Reindeer House’ couple hope to find their young admirers
THE owners of the ‘Reindeer House’ are looking to thank young letter-writers Celeste and Tabitha for brightening their Christmas.
Roger and Beryl Vaudin received a Christmas card addressed to Reindeer House from the girls to say they loved their Christmas lights.
After years of climbing ladders, Mr Vaudin had thought he would scale the decorations down a notch at some time soon, but now plans to keep the lights on for any passing admirers for as long as possible.
‘I was so touched,’ said Mr Vaudin. ‘Because I put the lights out for myself more than anything, we had such a shock.’
They put a plea on Facebook to thank whoever wrote the letter.
‘But we still haven’t found out who it is.’
For years, Mr Vaudin has orchestrated a grand display.
‘There’s about 8,000 lights in all, they go all over the garden and right through to the back. I’ve bought a new reindeer every year. What we are really looking for is a green reindeer.’
Should they be unable to find a green reindeer they may have to order one, or attach green lights to an existing reindeer.
‘We only put our lights up at Christmas, and I don’t light them up before the first. I’ve got them on timer switches so they go on at 4 and go off at 10.30pm so we don’t bother the neighbours. The wind can be a bit of a nuisance, that’s why I’ve got them tied to the tree. One of them ended up on its nose.’
Mrs Vaudin said she could hear cars slow as they passed to have a look.
‘He used to put them on the roof, do the windows and everything else,’ she said.
The letter arrived on 15 December.
‘It just dropped in the letterbox. We thought it was delivered with the post. They call us the Reindeer House, so I thought it would be nice to give them some reindeer chocolates. I asked him to get some from the shop, but he came back with chocolate frogs.
‘We wanted to say, what a lovely thought and just how much we appreciate it. We don’t do it for thanks, but to know that others enjoy our garden makes us want to carry on for years to come.’
After bunting was kept up after Liberation Day, Roy and Maddie Sarre are encouraging islanders to keep their outdoor lights up beyond Twelfth Night, which the Vaudins thought was a good idea.
‘I think because of the virus, he’s right,’ said Mrs Vaudin.
‘People were down when we first heard about it, and we’ve all gotten closer together, but this Christmas we’ve got more lights too and it really cheers you up.’
