From The Straits Times    |

Singapore
Children play with foam created as snow outside a shopping mall in Singapore on December 6, 2010. Most shopping malls are decorated with colourful lights, ornaments and figurines to mark the forthcoming festive season.

Bethlehem
Christian pilgrims walk past Bethlehem’s main Christmas tree outside the Church of the Nativity in the biblical West Bank towns Manger Square on December 16, 2010 as scores of Christian pilgrims are preparing to gather in the traditional birthplace of Jesus Christ to celebrate Christmas on December 25.

Yokohama
Cape Penguins wearing Christmas costumes take part in a Christmas event at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise in Yokohama, on November 23, 2010. The aquariums Christmas activities run from November 13- December 25.

Ginger City (Bergen)
A picture taken on November 25, 2010 shows the gingerbread town of Bergen made of hundreds of buildings, boats, bridges and other structures. Schools and kindergardens contribute every year in making a miniature version of Bergen – all in gingersnap – cookies. Ginger City opens on November 26 and hundreds of visitors are expected.

Beijing
Shoppers walk pass a Christmas decoration outside a shopping mall in Beijing on December 8, 2010. Christian culture, though still unfamiliar to most Chinese, continues to spread, and according to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, over 23 million Christians now live in China, a significant jump over the past three decades, has help to popularize the Christmas holiday.

Hong Kong
Traffic streams past buildings decorated for Christmas in Hong Kong on December 14, 2010. Christmas shoppers were out in force in a festively decorated Hong Kong with less than two weeks left until Christmas.

Abu Dhabi
An Emirati man walks past an 11-million-dollar Christmas tree at the Emirates Palace hotel in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi on December 15, 2010. Christmas came in extravagant fashion to the Muslim desert emirate of Abu Dhabi as a glitzy hotel unveiled a bejewelled Christmas tree valued at more than US$11 million (S$14 million).

Tripoli
‘Merry Christmas’ wishes from the municipality of Tripoli are lit in red and yellow in front of a sculpture of the word Allah or God in the centre of the northern Lebanese port city on December 17, 2010, less than a week before Christmas is celebrated in a country that is roughly half Muslim-half Christian. Arabic writing under the sculpture reads: Tripoli, the citadel of Muslims.

Lahore
Pakistani Christians offer prayers during a Christmas ceremony at the Cathedral church in Lahore on December 19, 2010. With a few days remaining for Christmas, Christian families in Lahore and Islamabad are full of activity, preparing festive food items and decorating homes with Christmas decorations.

Bratislava
Workers try to install a Christmas tree inside Holy Trinity church in Bratislava, on December 21,2010.

— AFP RELAXNEWS

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