It's okay if the 'koey farang' of Isaan have to tell their wives where the Christmas bunting goes.

No, no, no, don't hang it there!" Howard Roscoe shouted to his wife and her helpers as they put up decorations at the Castle Howchow Beach Resort a week before Christmas.

It was a bit awkward for the women. They grew up with Loy Krathong, not Christmas. Knowing where the tinsel goes isn't in their repertoire.

"I don't usually celebrate Christmas," admitted Roscoe, who's lived in Khon Kaen with his Thai wife for 18 years.

Commemorating the birth of Jesus does seem a little odd in tiny Kranuan district, 70 kilometres down a secondary highway from Khon Kaen town.

But Kranuan is home to more than 100 koey farang - "Western sons-in-law".

It's been estimated that 15,000 Westerners live in the Northeast, and half of Kranuan's koey farang are permanent residents.

To Roscoe, the celebration is nothing more than just a dinner among friends.

"Christmas is for children, basically, or it enables adults to be children for a few days once a year."

He started hosting Christmas parties three years ago after repeated requests from the guests at his resort, which is something of a local koey farang gathering place. They come for breakfast or, later in the day, for a few drinks. At Christmas time they're hoping for a festive meal and seasonal fun.

It can be a tricky time for the foreigners' Thai wives, especially if they're expected to cook the traditional Yule foods.

Their gradual Westernisation was famously noted by Assoc Prof Supawatanakorn Wongthanavasu in a study published as "The Impact of Cross-Cultural Marriage on the Institution of the Family in Northeastern Thailand".

But at the resort a week before Christmas - long after the tinsel and bunting usually goes up in the West - there wasn't even a Christmas tree in sight.

There was talk about getting a tree up and trimmed, though, and chef Suwit Jekthaw was once again preparing four turkeys for the feast.

"I felt really bad being on my own last year," said one of the guests, South African Samuel Bassay, who was in Bangkok at the time. He was grateful to be among friends.

Whether it's as a Christian observance or just for fun, Bassay said, "there's always a good reason to have fun on the day".

Nudaeng Eaktasaeng, who lives with a farang and has visited Britain, believes Westerners are obliged to celebrate the festival.

"It has to be a fun time for them," she says, adding that her family planned to buy costumes and a Christmas tree.

There would be a "compromise" barbecue banquet too, she said, in place of the usual dining arrangement, which is a steak for the farang and local dishes for the Thais.

Paul and Amnuay Prachumchai Wilson just got back from England in time for Christmas but didn't plan any special celebration. A tree and traditional dishes might be symbolic of the season, Paul said, but the true spirit of the occasion is in the family gatherings.

How far does the Westernisation go? Australian Ken Gordon, who teaches English at Srikranuan School, says no one is curtailed by the Christian traditions or obliged to join in, just as in his country Thais are welcome to celebrate Songkran.

While Gordon wants to learn more about local traditions, like the early-summer Boon Bang Fai festival, when rockets are launched to bring the rains, local people and his students are keen to learn more about his culture.

He, for one, appreciates that no one overdoes the Christmas celebrations in Kranuan.

"I can show you how it's being overdone in the West, in a very commercial way. Santa is being created by Coca Cola. People spend a fortune on presents!"

The Yule observations here are indeed modest, a nostalgic indulgence for the koey farang who miss this slice of life back home. In England, Amnuay said, she and other Thai wives dressed up for Songkran.

The festive mingling of cultures isn't worrying anyone in Kranuan, although one elderly resident who asked not to be named cautioned that "we don't know what will happen if the number of koey farang keeps increasing".

Nuan Sarnsorn, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand's regional office, says there's nothing to worry about if Santa shows up in Isaan, or even a nativity scene in someone's front yard for that matter.

The agency neither promotes nor discourages foreign festivities, he says, adding that the resident foreigners are always invited to join in local traditions.

Nuan says a couple of Europeans even took part in the recent puk sieo ceremony, in which pairs of best friends receive blessings.

"We aren't going to stop them - we invite them to be one of us."