Ruby Rihanna cheers ecstatically as she is chosen by ballot to open door number twenty-four of the Gemstone Glade advent calendar. The door is plain, dark blue with tiny stars, a night sky waiting to be unleashed.

Rihanna flies gracefully to the door, taking her time, as she wants to enjoy every micro-second. The door creaks open as her heart hiccups with joy.

Inside a star turns brightly. It is a sister star to the one on top of the Gemstone Glade Christmas Tree, and it is bigger than Rihanna. She laughs with drunken delight. It is entrancing, an enigma that shines with inner beauty.

The star flies slowly out the door, and Rihanna jumps on. They fly to the Christmas Tree – and then are going through the star at its top!

They come out the other side, through a star on top of a sister Christmas Tree. Rihanna gasps. They are in a starlit glade, velvet indigo blue and lit by crystal candles in the trees. In the middle of the glade is a large telescope, a small speaker next to it.

Curious, Ruby Rihanna flies to the telescope. Through it, she can see the stars much more clearly. As she navigates the sky, the speaker comes on and recites details about each star.

She stops at Planet Sparkle. “This planet is inhabited by crystal fairies,” entones the low voice of the speaker. Rihanna’s wings flutter in excitement. “You can visit this planet by entering the crystal teleport now.”

Rihanna notices a large hollow quartz crystal next to the telescope. Nervously, she flies inside. The crystal spins, and all Rihanna can see are stars all around. Then the spinning stops, as Rihanna realises she is now in a different crystal: this one is malachite green.

There are crystalline fairies waiting for her. They are smiling with the warmest welcome she can imagine. “I am Agate Annabel,” says their leader. “We are delighted to be visited by one of our own kind!”

Rihanna is shown around their town, complete with crystalline houses, crystalline fountains, crystal flypods (where do they go?), and crystalline rivers. It is so beautiful she feels that her heart may break. But it doesn’t. Instead, she is the happiest she has ever been.

Will Rihanna ever return to Gemstone Glade? We will find out next year. In the meantime, we wish you a very merry Christmas from all the crystalline fairies. We hope you find the brightest star in the sky, and take a piece of it home today. Have the happiest festive holiday that your heart can deliver, and more. May next year see all your dreams come true. Happy Christmas from all at Gemstone Glade.

Garnet Graeme glows red with excitement. He zooms to door number twenty-three of the Gemstone Glade advent calendar, crystal palms sweating with acute anticipation.

The door is covered in tiny crystals, shining softly in the low winter light. Eagerly he swings it open. Inside is a large patchwork stocking!

Back at ground level, the fairies clap their hands in delight. Garnet Graeme sticks his hand deep into the stocking. He discovers several tiny polished crystals. He shares them among the others. All different colours, they sparkle with the joy of Christmas.

Then they begin to change, from pebble crystals to little birds. Together, the birds flap their new wings and fly from the fairy hands. They take their place on the Gemstone Glade Christmas Tree.

Graeme again sticks his hand in to the stocking. He finds several tangerines. Again, he shares them among the group. Greedily, the fairies eat, throwing the tangerine peel carelessly to the ground.

Suddenly, the tangerine peel begins to move. The pieces assemble together in a small cloud, taking on the shape of a bird of prey. Gracefully the orange bird flies around the glade, and then takes off over the trees.

Graeme’s hand returns to the stocking. Right at the bottom, rests another crystal. Graeme clutches it tightly, and as his hand returns the fairies behold a clear crystal ball.

The fairies crowd round. Within the ball, they see a miniature Gemstone Glade. Unicorns are drinking from the fountain. Suddenly, a red-tunicked Santa Claus appears. He dumps the stocking – their stocking – on the ground, then is gone.

Next the fairies see themselves, encircling the stocking and eating tangerines. They laugh with bemusement. The crystal ball turns cloudy.

“I will keep this,” declares Garnet Graeme. “Who knows what this ball will one day reveal?”

Then it is time to dance, the start of the fairy Christmas festivities in earnest. A unicorn enters the glade, and quietly watches them. It begins to snow, and the scene is complete.

Angelite Amy glows baby blue, the colour of Christmas healing. Finally her turn to open an advent calendar door!

She flies gracefully to door number twenty two which is plain and white, with tiny snow quartz crystals. Behind the door is a winter wonder: a tiny tree with branches covered in snow, and a twirling star snowflake on top.

Back at ground level, Amy carefully places the tree on the snow studded grass. The snow on the branches begins to move, forming individual snowflakes which dance around the tree. They change colour: pink, blue, green, purple snowflakes. Then they fly to the main Christmas Tree, tease it with their presence then soar over the trees and are gone.

The bare tree has revealed a secret: under the snow are real diamonds, stuck to the branches and shining in the winter sun. The snowflake on top of the tree stops twirling, and falls to the ground: a star-shaped diamond. Amy picks it up with joy, she will cherish this forever.

Meanwhile the coloured snowflakes fly in to the night, to find an unhappy child and melt on their tongue as they sleep, gifting each the best dreams ever. In the morning, all the children will find a diamond under their pillow. It will be a shining Christmas!

© Can Stock Photo Inc. / svic

Zoisite Zena stuns in a leaf green dress, offsetting the deep tones of her green body. She flies to the advent calendar, twitching in excitement. Door twenty one depicts a green crystal heart, just like the one beating inside her.

Inside she finds a sprig of holly, a deep green to complement her own skin! Laughing, she takes it down to the glade.

The other fairies crowd round. As she holds the twig of holly up to catch the sunlight, it jerks out of her hand. Hovering midair, it begins to grow in to a beautiful holly heart shape.

Danburite Dawn flies through the heart. She emerges with a holly crown on her head. Moonstone Marina jumps through – and disappears! Other fairies follow. They have landed in another glade, this one surrounded by holly trees with statues of angels within them. It is very peaceful, a space of winter retreat and reflection.

The fairies kneel and say a prayer each, overcome by the sacred aura of the glade. Then they slowly leave, jumping through the heart and back to Gemstone Glade. Everything now looks brighter. The holly heart begins to spin, and flies to the Christmas Tree, taking place at its foot, a final Christmas decoration that can not be surpassed.

Zoisite Zena is green with delight. Surely she has opened the best door yet!

Iolite Ina glows purple in the low winter sun. She is wearing her favourite lilac skirt with tassles, in honour of her day to open an advent calendar door!

Door number twenty is silver with a picture of a unicorn head, complete with golden mane and shining silver horn.

She opens it quickly. There is nothing inside! Then she looks closer.

A long thick golden hair is hiding in plain sight. She touches it and electricity shoots up her arm. Gently, she picks it up. This must be a unicorn hair! A magic thread of someone’s golden mane. A special someone, donating personal poetry to the calendar, their own piece of molten magic.

Ina takes the golden hair down to where the other fairies wait. They all touch it in awe. Immediately the female fairies feel their own locks growing! Stray golden hairs appear among their usual colour. They shriek with delight.

Then they all feel something soft on their neck – it is a braid of unicorn hairs, forming a necklace! They jump up and down with excitement.

Ina lays the golden hair reverently on the grass. It starts to multiply with speed. A magic rug is forming before them! In ten minutes a tiny rug is there, just waiting to be played upon.

The fairies begin to dance on the rug, as golden stars rise from it. This is such fun! After a while they all lie down exhausted, and fall in to the sweetest slumber, full of golden unicorn blessings. When they awake hours later, the sun is setting in beautiful reds and golds. They gasp. Life is too beautiful. This is Gemstone Glade style Christmas, magic at its most festive.

Peacock Ore Patrick glows in the winter light, iridescent and invincible. All the fairies love him: he is always there for anyone in need, with kind words and sage advice.

His door is plain and golden. What can be behind it?

Carefully he opens the door, and slowly sighs. A gold bell sits there, regal and radiant. Patrick takes it is his hands. The sweetest sound emanates, a song for the soul, a call of the divine.

Gold sparkles around his hands and his head. The bell continues to chime.

Hooves can be heard approaching. Then they are here: six unicorns with shining gold horns, summoned by the bell. They begin to dance together, walking around in circles and patterns as they criss cross each other’s paths. The fairies stare in wonder.

Then the golden dove returns, flying high over the glade.

Gold stars fall off the bell, and land on the fairies. They giggle in delight as their wings turn golden and sparkly.

A bird cries, a sound from heaven, music on wings. He arrives: a golden eagle. He circles the glade then flies through the star on top of the Christmas Tree, and is gone! But where did he go?

The fairies dance with the unicorns, fluttering their wings as they fly round their heads, breathing in unicorn magic.

The unicorns form a circle, and place all their horns to touch on the ground. A gold cloud forms round them, then hovers above the fountain, which turns golden too.

The fairies laugh. They need to enjoy their gold wings while they have them, as they know this magic will wear off soon.

The unicorns move apart and begin to leave the glade. The bell stops tolling. The moment has passed: but it will live on forever.

© Can Stock Photo / Catmando

Moonstone Marina stares at advent calendar door eighteen with curiosity. It is green with white and red stars. What can be behind? Slowly she opens the door, savouring the moment.

A beautiful piece of mistletoe confronts her, shining with golden stars around it. She gasps in heartfelt delight.

Tentatively, she touches the mistletoe, then picks it up. A warmth courses through her body.

The fairies crowd round as she returns to ground level. The stars twirl around the mistletoe, little Christmas moments, microcosms of magic.

Then the mistletoe begins to grow. The fairies stare, transfixed. Faster and faster it grows until it towers above the fairies, then it erupts in to many smaller mistletoe pieces: the exact amount for all the fairies to have one each!

Stars fly between all the mistletoes, and then gather in a small cloud of light and fly to the Christmas Tree, where they take up residence.

The fairies clutch their new presents happily, and then begin to dance. Let the mistletoe party begin!

Dancing continues on in to the night, and as dusk comes the glade is lit up by twinkling stars and the magic pine cones on the Christmas Tree. In the morning, a pile of mistletoe brightens up the foot of the Christmas Tree, and the glade is ready for yet more Christmas fun.

Obsidian Olly claps his hands – finally he has been chosen to open an advent calendar door! His door depicts pine trees, sparkling green and gold.

As he opens the door, a fresh forest small hits his nose. Inside are pine cones, all different colours.

Slowly they drift out the door, and form the shape of a tree mid-air, shining in the winter sun.

Then the cones fly to the  main Christmas tree, and affix to branches. They light up: beautiful colours that will glow like stars when the sun goes down.

One pine cone has stayed behind. Olly picks it up. It lights up and vibrates in his hand. He has a new friend – and a torch!

Delighted, he returns to ground level, holding the cone gently as if it might break. He will not let go of it again in a long time.

That night, he sleeps with the light of the pine cone next to him, and in his dreams a forest of pine trees engulfs him and shares its secrets.

Sugilite Sally jumps up and down with delight. She has been chosen to open today’s advent calendar door!

Her lilac body glistens as she flies to the multicoloured door, rainbows crisscrossing it in a symphony of vibrant colour.

Inside she finds a jar of sweets. Back at ground level, she opens it and the fairies all grab one. The sweets are different colours. As the fairies hold the sweets, tiny rainbows dance within them.

Jasper Jim is the first to place a sweet in his mouth. Immediately a rainbow twirls around his body! Jim moves and the rainbow moves with him.

The fairies laugh. They all begin eating, and then dance with their rainbow. Rainbows move around the glade as the fairies leap and twirl.

Jim swallows his sweet. The rainbow leaves him and flies to the fountain, merging with its waters which turn in to a rainbow cascade.

The other fairies swallow theirs too, and all the rainbows float towards the fountain. The fairies are laughing. This is such fun!

A unicorn enters the glade, and begins to drink the rainbow coloured water. As he finishes, a rainbow starts to twirl around his silver horn. He looks at the fairies, nods then is gone.

Slowly the rainbows rise from the fountain, and fly away over the trees.

Calum turns over in bed. A rainbow dances around his head, and enters his dreams. He sighs happily.

Tonight many children are blessed as they sleep, unhappiness swept away as the rainbows come and then go, taking all their worries with them.

In another world, the rainbows regroup, and dance to a silent music of the night. They will return to the glade one day, but for now their work is done.

One sweet remains in the jar in Gemstone Glade. It is patient. Soon, the right person will find it, and its healing powers will be released.

The fountain waters continue to flow, the memory of rainbows still real within them. They now contain rainbow energy forever. Whoever drinks from the fountain, will be blessed.

Angelite Amy flies happily towards her door, anticipation in her heart. Her blue body shines in the winter sun.

Her door is covered in pictures of snowmen, all wearing cosy scarves and mittens. Inside the door, there is a bundle of tiny fairy hats, gloves and scarves, all in different colours. She grabs as many as she can and returns to the ground. It is time for a fairy clothes party!

They have great fun trying on all the colours, trying to find the perfect fit.

Angelite Amy chooses a green scarf and purple hat, which both complement perfectly her blue body. As she begins to dance with the other fairies – many are waving scarves in the air – she notices how warm and comforted she feels.

These are magic winter clothes: they make you feel good on the inside as well as on the outside.

The golden dove appears and steals a mitten, flying off delighted with his find.

As the fairies dance, the unclaimed scarves on the ground fly up and begin their own dance mid-air. The fairies stop and stare. The scarves are beautiful as they twist and turn, a sight to behold.

Then they fly to the Christmas tree and wrap around the branches.

The fairies begin to dance again like there is no tomorrow. The Christmas Tree sways in time.

The Christmas party has begun in Gemstone Glade, and now it will not stop.