The Gneighbor Gnome

We absolutely love our neighbors, the Fa'anunus.  They are such a help and support to us as well as a blast to be around.

While we were unpacking over the summer, I was pretty excited when I pulled out a garden gnome that was given to me from a co-worker, Chris Atencio, at Walnut Hills Elementary.  I knew exactly what I was going to do with this mischievous, little guy!  I hid him in the Fa'anunu's yard with a note letting them know that the gnome game had begun--they were now to hide this little guy in our yard and we would go back and forth trying to find the best hiding spots in each other's yards.  It has been a fun joke...that got even more fun for Christmas.

After a big snow fall, the Fa'anunu children buried the gneighbor gnome in the snow on our property. 

When I found him, I thought it would be funny to create tons of snow mounds in their front yard to make them think I had buried him in one of them.  But after they stomped on all the little snow hills, they realized his hiding spot was not so obvious.

I admit, I was pretty giddy about his next hiding spot.  I made five little gnomes (one for each of the kids), we wrapped all the gnomes in a box, tied it up with a pretty bow and left the gift on the Fa'anunu's porch from "Secret Santa" and instructed them not to open it until Christmas Day.

Shortly after the box was delivered, Jen Fa'anunu, the mother of the clan, told me how excited she was to have a Secret Santa gift--and much to my surprise, I didn't blow our cover! Geoff and I giggled with delight as we waited with much anticipation to hear how they react when they discover what was in the box.

We got a text from them Christmas night about how surprised they were over our prank (their father, Tom Fa'anunu, claimed he knew the gnome was stashed in that box all along!) and were plotting their next move.

We have yet to find the gnome in the freshly fallen two feet of snow...at this rate, we just hope to figure out his hiding spot before spring!

 

It's hard enough to find motivation to dig through the snow--but to do so in sub-zero, windy conditions is another story.  I hope our gnome has his thermals on, because he may be out there for a while!