It's a weekend of fun at home for Christmas. Christmas is different this year as we have shifted into a new family home. A home which Dad left to us five siblings and which we decided to build into apartments. My sister and her family and brother have arrived from Perth, Western Australia and my Mum lives on the ground floor and loves being home from the convent where she stayed for 5 years.

The old bungalow was pulled down and this family apartment block was constructed in its place. It all sounds easy and quick but that was not the way it happened. It was a lot of effort and pulling together of all our resources before this building came up and was habitable.

Ten flats in what is considered the posh area of Bangalore and every flat finished with high end fittings and flooring besides imported pre fab kitchens and wardrobes. The final product is a top- of-the-line apartments, commanding some of the best rentals in the city.

The garden too is beautiful holding only the best foliage plants in a landscaped and planted area. All around plants have been chosen with care to complement the building rather than detract from it. The two old mango trees which stood in the property and a lot of fruit trees have been left to grow and were not removed. Those are fruiting now with the extra manure and red soil which was bought and sprinkled liberally around the property and in which the garden seems to have taken off.

The old tamarind tree in the corner of the property which actually grows in the neighbour's garden or really along our garden wall looks beautiful with a large Monstera creeping on it. We shifted the Monstera from our old home and planted it against the tamarind and it took to the soil immediately. Standing stately with its large elephant ears sized leaves, the plant gives the property such style as one drives down into the basement to park.

In the basement every apartment was designated one large and one small car parking. The basement is well lit to allow cars to be parked without too much of fuss. Infact the building was raised higher than the road outside as the old house suffered with sewage back up from the road whenever it rained too heavily.

Since most of us in the building are Christian every door sports a Christmas Advent wreath making the whole building look rather festive. Christmas is celebrated all over Bangalore in a very commercial way, but it still is a big holiday and happily most people like sporting the Santa cap and going for all the Christmas Balls across the city.