Christmas star adds to holiday cheer.

KARACHI -- Every year around Christmastime Anthony ApartA!ments, the doughnut-shaped tall beige and brown building located on the corner of Adam Road, has a huge Christmas star hanging in the middle.

Anthony Apartments gets its name from the St Anthony's Church nearby. The Christmas star there is sometimes green and white, sometimes red, green and white with golden borders or tassels; this year it is red and gold with the same message that it carries - 'Happy New Year' - in the centre though it is put up there on Christmas Eve.

'There is a committee which deals with the star and its placement every year,' a resident of the building told Dawn. He also says that hanging the star, which also weighs a lot, is not easy. 'As you can see it is attached to thick ropes on either side tied to pillars on the sixth floor. And it also takes around six people on either side to pull it up and secure it,' he says.

The committee responsible for having the Christmas star up every year for over 35 years now, which is also how old the building is, is headed by Simon Peter Randolph, who also resides in the same building. His older daughter Christina says that the star is now a tradition. 'Over the years it has also bound us residents together around this time of year. The children also look forward to it,' she says.

'We make the star ourselves. It is entirely handmade,' Christina adds, saying...