Family Festivities

We find out how this Danish artist injects some Christmas spirit into her home.

- Amy Brook-partridge

With over a dozen years in Singapore under her belt, CHRISTINA JENSEN has lived in the East, then close to Orchard Road, and now in this Novena home; and she has seen both her daughters grow up here and since fly the nest. Getting used to the house being so empty is tough, she admits, and she’s certainly excited about the family being back together, here in their Singapore home, this Christmas.

When they relocated from Denmark to Singapore in 2006 for husband Anders’ job in shipping, their daughters Josephine and Victoria were ten and six respectively. Their first home was on the East Coast, where they stayed for five years. “We liked it in the East; we had a lovely house, but the landlords wanted to move into it themselves. We were also looking to move more centrally anyway as the girls were attending the Overseas Family School, which used to have a campus just off Orchard Road.”

The family found a 1950s shophouse on Emerald Hill, which they called home for another three years, before moving again to this Novena home. “We’ve always lived in houses, which I know some people say makes it harder to meet people, but we’ve not struggled. It’s also meant we’ve made more local friends; we even went to the wedding of one of our neighbours’ children.”