Rhyolite Robbie is under the Gemstone Glade Christmas Tree, gently fingering the tiny present he has found. He wonders what precious magic it contains. The wrapping paper is dark green and it sparkles, winking in the early morning sun.

In another world, many many miles away, six year old Neville is crying. Bullied at school, his ego is like an egg that has just fallen on a hard floor. Depression delves deep in to his soul.

Suddenly, a cloud of sparkles softly rain around him. He closes his eyes in disbelief. When he opens them, a tiny light green and grey fairy hovers before him.

“Who … who are you?”

“I am Rhyolite Robbie, made of living crystal! I bring a special gift just for you! I can’t wait to see what it is! Can you open it now?”

Neville is bewildered, but he complies. “Oh!” he mutters. “It is only a seed.”

“But a magical seed, from that most magical of places, Gemstone Glade! Go on! Plant it straight away!”

Neville happily runs in to the garden, making a small hole in the flowerbed nearest his window. He plants the seed and waits. “Nothing is happening!”

“Give it time!” implores Robbie.

By the next week, there is a small green shoot rising from the frosty earth. Neville knows that this is wrong, plants should not grow in winter. No, not wrong – magical.

The week after, a green leaf has appeared. Then another, the next day. Neville sees green fairies flying round the plant when he returns from school. He laughs. What a fun Christmas gift.

The next week, a layer of purple leaves appears. Miniscule amethyst crystals hang from then. Neville laughs again. Taking a crystal, he places it in his bath that night. The waters turn purple, and tiny lilac dolphins jump up and spin over the bath. Neville laughs again. He hopes his mother does not find the plant. What can he tell her?

The next week, there are more leaves, this time blue. Bright blue birds flock around the plant, then they are gone as quickly as they have come.

On the fourth week, Neville runs home to see what changes await. He stops in his tracks. The plant is still there, but all the leaves are red and brown and normal looking. Where has the magic gone?

The next morning, a note is by his bed, a green crystal on top.

“Magic never goes, it just moves on to the next place it is needed. One day, you will see us fairies again. We are never far away.”

Neville takes the note and carefully hides it in a shoebox. Then he laughs. He knew real magic, even if not for very long.

And magic never leaves us, not ever. It is still there in our secret memories, and at night it whispers to us in our dreams.

Sally sleeps with her tattered teddy in her arms. It has been two months since her best school friend moved away, and she still misses her so much.

Far away, a fairy dances around a magic tree and then swoops down to a special gift beneath its branches. Laughing, she flies in to the moonlight … and materialises by Sally’s bed.

As Sally continues to sleep, Kyanite Kim – a pink fairy with a sparkling sequin purple dress – gently places the gift next to her pillow.

The next morning, Sally is delighted and bewildered in a crazy tangle of emotion. Then she opens the gift. A gold locket is in her hands. She laughs. Inside, is a picture of a golden meadow.

Gently, she touches it. Then she is there. A golden sun hangs resplendent in a bronze sky. Golden grass moves in a gentle wind, and golden hills rise to the sky as if they are trying to fly there.

Sally looks around in awe.

“Hello.” A golden girl with huge wings approaches her. “I am Nicole. I will be your new best friend. When you wish to return to your world again, just touch the locket.”

So Sally’s secret world becomes her go to place before school, after school, in the middle of the night. She has never been happier. One day, as she brushes her hair, she finds a golden strand. She smiles. Gold is beautiful.

© Can Stock Photo / webking

The Christmas Tree glows in the low winter sun. The fairies are flying round the glade, Christmas cheer in their eyes and party fun in their wings. It is time to celebrate the year, in true fairy style.

Suddenly, everyone pauses in collective awe. A present has materialised beneath the tree. The silence is broken as the fairies cheer.

A small gift in pink shining paper glimmers with its own hidden secret. There is a magic amethyst wand next to it, which has also only just appeared.

In a house far way, Melissa is sound asleep. In her dreams, she is playing with young lambs. She giggles as the dreams. If only she could have a pet in real life.

Moonstone Marina sweeps down to the ground, and inspects the gift. She knows what she has to do. Waving the magic wand furiously, she then grabs the present and flies away. She does not know where she is going, but the wand’s spell has set her path.

In a cloud of sparkling wizard’s dust, she materialises in Melissa’s bedroom. Quietly, she places the gift on Melissa’s pillow. Then she is gone as mysteriously as she arrived.

In the morning, Melissa gasps with delight. Quickly she opens the present. A rose quartz lamb falls in to her hands. She laughs. “But I wish you were a puppy!”

The stone changes beneath her fingers. It is now a pink Labrador puppy.

Melissa laughs, too happy to be curious as to the magic in her hands.

“I want a kitten!”

The stone changes again, as Melissa giggles.

That night, she sleeps with the crystal – now in the shape of a unicorn – beneath her pillow. As she dreams, unicorns join her. She climbs on one, and rides with it through a dense forest. Soon, they come to a glade with a shining fountain, fairies flying through its waters. Melissa laughs, she feels so happy.

The next day, when she awakes, little does she know that a piece of Gemstone Glade magic is now lodged in her heart, forever.

It is the most magical time of year in Gemstone Glade, when all the fairies and animals of the forest come together for Gemstone glee and the magic of the season. But there is an expectant awe as night falls this second of December. The angels have arrived, bearing the Gemstone Glade Christmas tree! Slowly they lower it, as the fairies fly through the glade giggling in delight.

It is the best ever tree this year. The star at its top suddenly spins up and off, dancing around the glade. White doves nestle in the branches of the tree, cooing softly. The green branches change to purple, then back to green.

The tree is on the ground now, a tiny and intriguing green door at its foot. A giant bauble bears a clock face, set to 2 with 25 hours – or days. The countdown to Christmas has begun! Tiny angels dance around the branches, singing a melody from a far off land.

A unicorn arrives in the glade, and touches his horn to the tree. It is now officially blessed. The unicorn’s horn turns purple, then returns to its usual silver colour.

The fairies clap their hands in delight. It is time for the season to commence! A month of magic and wonder awaits. Will you join us to see what happens next?