A cheeky intruder has been caught living in a family's attic over Christmas.

Stanley Carter surrendered to US cops after they searched the house when the people living there got suspicious.

The unexpected Christmas guest then emerged wearing a family member's clothes, police said.

It happened in Wilkes-Barre, Philadelphia, last Friday and cops believe he had been there for up to a week.

Carter was charged with several counts of burglary, theft, receiving stolen property and criminal trespass.

Homeowner Stacy Ferrance said: "When he came down from the attic, he was wearing my daughter's pants and my sweat shirt and sneakers.

"From what I gather, he was helping himself to my home, eating my food and stealing my clothes."

Officers said the 21-year-old had been staying with his mates, who are Ferrance's neighbours.

But when they told him to leave, he apparently got into the shared attic through a trap door in a bedroom ceiling.

The friends said Carter went missing on December 19 and they filed a missing person report a few days before Christmas.

Mum Stacy, who pointed him out on MySpace, said she had heard noises but thought they were caused by her three kids.

She told police on Christmas Day when cash, a laptop computer and an iPod disappeared.

Then she called them again the next day when she found footprints in her bedroom closet, where the attic trap door is located.

Carter kept a list of everything he took, said Plains Township police Officer Michael Smith.

"When we were going through the inventory of what he did take, we found a note labelled 'Stanley's Christmas List' of all the items he had removed from the residence and donated to himself," Smith said.

Carter is being held in custody until he appears in court on January 5.