CHRISTMAS may come but once a year – but for one York family the festive season lasts all year round.

Adam Gough, 24, of Holgate, plays CDs of carols and traditional Christmas songs such as Frosty the Snowman every day through the year – and even every night when he’s asleep.

He is so passionate about Yuletide songs that when he celebrated his birthday at a York Italian restaurant in June, his family asked staff to play We Wish You A Merry Christmas on the loudspeakers instead of Happy Birthday – to bemused looks from fellow diners.

And if his mother, Sarah Beavers, ever turns the music in his bedroom down too far at night, he instantly wakes up.

Sarah said his festive favourites were Frosty and Let it Snow, while his top carol was probably O Come All Ye Faithful.

She said Adam, who is autistic, had had a passion for Christmas since he was a toddler, along with cars.

“He used to get so over-excited in the run-up to Christmas when he was young that he couldn’t sleep, and one year he made himself ill and we ended up at the doctors on Christmas Eve,” she said.

“The carols playing all day long used to be torture but now I don’t even notice them, although we sometimes get some comments – such as the time when the man came to repair the boiler in April and he heard them playing, turned round and said: “It’s a bit early isn’t it?”

“My view is that if they help Adam to feel calm, relaxed and happy, and they help him to sleep at night, that’s all that matters, and I embrace them.

“I asked Adam once why he liked Christmas so much when he doesn’t like noise and parties and so on, and isn’t even that keen on Christmas dinner, and I think his reply was quite insightful.

He said: “I like it because it’s the one day of the year when everyone is happy.”

She said Adam, who attended special schools in York as a child and had a difficult childhood, had gone from strength to strength over the past decade as he had gradually taken control of his life.

“For the first 16 years of his life, he had very little personal control over his own life and very limited choice,” she said.

“But when he was about 15 years old, I started to really listen to him and realise he needed to be able to make his own choices in his life.

“He now travels independently, he has friends, a social life and a part-time job, goes cycling and is learning to drive,” she said.