Teenager Jodie Slater had no cash when a taxi dropped her home in Aberporth after a night out - so the taxi driver took the family's 6ft Christmas tree.
Mum Angie couldn't believe her eyes the next morning when she went to get the tree to decorate it - and found it was missing.
"We put two and two together and phoned the taxi company who admitted the tree was with them," she said.
"At first we were really put out but then we saw the funny side!"
Jodie, 19, had flagged down the Robins taxi at Finch Square in the early hours of the morning on Saturday.
"I realised when I got home that I had no cash and the driver asked for a mobile phones. When we refused he took the tree!" she said.
The family went down to the taxi firm's Cardigan base on Sunday to pay the £15 fare and retrieve their tree.
Taxi firm owner Robin Davies said:
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