X FACTOR star Nicholas McDonald says Christmas is his favourite time of year.

And he's going to get his festive celebrations up and running in style by switching on the Christmas lights at Braehead Shopping Centre on Thursday.

Nicholas, 17, from Wishaw, was runner up in last year's X Factor show and he'll be performing several songs at the Braehead event, as well as doing the honours with the Christmas lights.

Shoppers will also be entertained by The Singing Kettle, boy bands Rewind and 4th State, along with the RockUs Community Choir. And host for the night is Britain's Got Talent star, Edward Reid.

The free fun starts at 5.30pm and goes on until 7.30pm and of course, Santa Claus will be making a guest appearance.

Nicholas said: "Christmas is definitely my favourite time of the year and what better way for me to get my festive season started than switching on one of the biggest sets of Christmas lights I've ever seen.

"I just love everything about Christmas and I'm hoping we'll have snow this year. When I was a wee boy I suffered from asthma and I didn't get out in the snow much during the winter.

"But I'm fine now and I really enjoy getting out there in the snow and having fun making snowmen and having snowball fights - all the things I missed out on when I was a kid."

Nicholas is currently on a nine-date tour throughout the UK and is recording a second album as a follow-up to the successful debut album In The Arms Of An Angel, which got to No6 in the UK album charts and No1 in the Scottish charts.