In the mood for X'mas

LIKE an excited child, James Keasberry looks forward to Christmas every year. But not because he knows he will be getting lots of presents. Instead, Mr Keasberry cannot wait to start decorating his home for the season.

The preparations for the festivities begin around the third week of November, when he pulls out his boxes of Christmas decorations. "I like to start early, so that I can enjoy the Christmassy feel for longer," he says. "Three weeks is just too short." The decorations come down after the 12 days of Christmas. Mr Keasberry, regional manager of a carpet manufacturing firm, says it has always been a tradition to deck the halls for Christmas.

"As kids, my siblings and parents would always decorate the home for Christmas every year." For the last 25 years, since he got married, Mr Keasberry, a Eurasian Singaporean, takes it upon himself to decorate the home. His wife Rosalind, a Chinese Indian, and their kids, Bryan and Charlene, help him take down the decorations. The Christmassy feel of the three-bedroom apartment in Punggol begins even before entering the home: the doorbell chimes to the tune of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.