Silvie the pure quartz hare danced nimbly in to Gemstone Glade. She was grace and beauty incarnate, a ballet dancer in bunny costume, an angel in Christmas ice. Her appearance was a portent; she only ever visited Gemstone Glade when a momentous event was imminent. She had not been seen in years.

Silvie jumped onto the fountain and drank its healing waters. Pregnant, her New Year wish was to see her babies born this New Year’s Eve. She knew they would be special; there was magic in their veins, a gift for the future in their hearts. However, she did not yet know just how special.

This is why she had come to the most magical forest glade in the universe to give birth. As the clock ticked on to midnight, she prepared to welcome her little darlings of great destiny.

Silvie started to give birth shortly before midnight, Gemstone Glade timezone. She expected the leverets to be like her: living clear quartz crystal with a beating heart invisible within. However, surprise stroked her birthing body. The first leveret was rose pink quartz. The second, green. The third, orange. The fourth, violet. The fifth, indigo. The sixth, magenta. They were rays of the rainbow!

SIlvie knew this to be an omen. Her babies were a sign of better times. Wherever they went they would take the healing energy of their colour. Miracles would take place in their wake.

Silvie closed her eyes in motherly pride. Happiness hiccupped in her heart. All was well in the world, and all would be even better. The leverets crowded around their Mum. They did not know the magic in their hearts, but they knew their love for Mum. Their adventures were in the future. For now, miracles lingered in the moment, and then were gone.

Gemstone Glade was silent witness to magic in motion. If it could purr like a mother, it would. Instead, the trees whispered and the fountain sang.

Happy New Year from all at Gemstone Glade. Join us in 2021 for more fun, frivolity and above all magic!

Unicorn Ryan enters Gemstone Glade shortly before Christmas Eve midnight, intent on finding the magic tablet (gifted to him when he visited Unicorn Heaven – recap here).

Gently he nudges around the recently buried magic stone tablet. The crystal fairies rush to help him, removing the earth with their tiny crystalline hands, revealing the tablet beneath. It gleams in the moonlight.

It is the best Christmas gift ever, Ryan is sure. As instructed, he rubs his horn over it. An inner light shines through the stone, as it grows so hot that Ryan hastily removes his horn.

Ancient text forms a pattern over the stone, revealed by the light beneath. Of course, light does not usually shine through stone, however this is a magic tablet!

The words revealed are:

Griffin

Dragon

Unicorn

Phoenix

White Tiger

Moon rabbit

Rainbow Serpent

Father Christmas

Ryan decides that the tablet must hold the knowledge of these magical creatures. He would love to know more about his own race, the Unicorns. However, this is Christmas Eve after all. He touches his horn to the “Father Christmas” lettering.

A portal of light appears before him, and Ryan knows instinctively that this portal will take him to Father Christmas. Is he really going to meet Father Christmas on Christmas Eve?

Cautiously, he flies through the portal. A wooden house is in front of him, in a snowy landscape of trees and a frozen lake. He knocks on the door with his horn.

An old man answers. “A unicorn!” he whispers. “The prophecy is coming true! What tidings do you bring?”

“I have come to meet you, and to find out more about you. I help children, as you do too. Perhaps we can work together.”

“Ha, children! It’s been centuries since I helped children. Planet Earth is too consumer driven, they don’t need me, they can buy their own gifts! No, I hung up my cloak and sleigh during the Witch Trials. Not safe for them, not safe for me.”

“But that’s hundreds of years ago now! The children of Earth need you this year, after their horrid covid months. The planet is crying out for a message of hope. Be that message!”

Father Christmas protested mildly, then was overcome with emotion. “A unicorn! How can I disappoint a unicorn!”

“And I can ask my fellow unicorns with wings to pull your sleigh!”

“Now that,” said Father Christmas, “is an offer I definitely can’t refuse.”

So it came to be that Santa Claus flew through the night skies of Planet Earth accompanied by an army of winged unicorns. Children the world over climbed out of bed, and laughed at the happy sight. Of course, he was not visible to adults – as they do not believe.

But if you believe, why don’t you open your curtains now, marvel at the stars above and perhaps, just perhaps, the brightest one you see is Santa on his sleigh.

A very merry Christmas to all Gemstone Glade readers! Join us in 2021 to learn of Ryan’s adventures with Griffins, Dragons, Phoenixes, White Tigers, Moon rabbit and the Rainbow Serpent.

A very happy Unicorn Christmas!

Nirvana is a nurse unicorn, and a keeper of knowledge.

She looks after ancient unicorns in a paradise world for the elderly. She ensures their last days are the best of their lives. Her secret to helping them? Telling stories. She makes them up each night, her imagination afire with flames that never go out. The embers of her mind hiss with fictitious unicorn knights and kings. She wished they were all real, that she could meet them someday.

Tonight, on Christmas Eve 2020, Nirvana has come to Gemstone Glade to drink from its healing fountain waters. She has an important task ahead of her. As the keeper of unicorn knowledge, the elderly unicorns pass on to her their life experience. She keeps their knowledge alive.

This Christmas 2020, her mission is to impart a tiny, tiny part of this knowledge to humankind. She has already chosen her vessel. A child, of course, because only children believe in unicorns.

She flies through the dimensions to Planet Earth, as ten year old Anna drifts slowly to sleep. Anna can’t wait for Christmas Day, begging to go early to bed so it could come even sooner. As she descends to the dreamworld, a silent visitor materialises by her bed,

Nirvana gently touches her unicorn horn to Anna’s forehead. The child does not awake. Instead, she is joined in her dreams by mighty, knightly unicorns. Ancient unicorn fables weave their way through the web of her mind. The stories are there to stay, seeds that will grow in to exotic flowers as Anna grows up.

Nirvana says a silent prayer, and quietly leaves. When Anna awakes on Christmas morning, she immediately grabs her notebook and pen. She has dreamt of unicorns and has a story – if not a novel – in her head. Anna has always loved creative writing. Now she can think of nothing else. She must write.

“There was once was a Queen Unicorn called Celeste, and she ruled her land with love and joy … “

Anna continues to write, a smile on her face like the first snowdrops of spring. Downstairs, her mother is calling. Christmas presents are waiting. But Anna is unwrapping the best present of all: her new found imagination. Now ignited, the flames will never die.

Read Gemstone Glade Christmas Stories from the Past:

Christmas 2017

Christmas 2018

Christmas 2019

The Gemstone Glade Christmas Tree shines in the December dusk, the air alive with the promise of Christmas. Magic mutates to momentous at this time of year, as fantasies weave ribbons among the trees. This is the place where little children’s dreams come true.

The angels on the Christmas Tree begin to sing “Hallelujah.” The fairies fly around then settle to listen to the solemn song. Christmas feels different this year … more important, somehow.

Destina smiles as she sings. Unlike the other angels on the tree, she is not a rainbow colour, but plain white. It emphasises her purity of purpose.

She helps children to deliver their destiny, by reaching out to them in their dreams. However, she is not allowed to interfere. The children may forget their dreams, or they may not act on them, that is their free will. However, it pains her when a tremendous destiny remains unfulfilled.

Tonight, she is itching to interfere. As covid continues to crawl around Planet Earth like a small child let loose with a dangerous party game, now is the time for some important destinies to be placed in motion.

Theo lies in his bed looking at the stars on his ceiling. How he wishes he could space travel one day. He closes his eyes, then opens them as he hears a soft voice next to his pillow.

An angel stands above him. Destina has grown in size for this mission; this is one of her angelic skills, she can become diminutive or giant in an instant. Now, she is adult human size.

“I have a Christmas gift for you,” she whispers. She places a tiny quartz crystal unicorn on his pillow. “This is yours to treasure, look after it well. One day, when you are older and wiser, the time will be right for your special mission. On that day, this unicorn will come to life and grow to the size of a horse with wings. He will take you far away, to a magical place called Gemstone Glade. You will meet many unicorns there, and persuade some to return with you. This is your destiny! To bring unicorns back to Planet Earth!”

Theo places the quartz unicorn in his hands, and strokes it. It grows warm.

“Go to sleep now,” whispers Destina. Theo closes his eyes and is gone, running through a meadow on a unicorn. He laughs in his sleep. However, the next morning he does not recall either Destina or his dreams, they are cloaked in the mist of morning confusion.

He finds the quartz unicorn, and wonders where it has come from. He smiles as he picks it up. This, he will keep safe.

In Gemstone Glade, all is still. The unicorns can feel that someone is coming, one day, a long time from now. And on that day, everything will change. It will be the best Christmas ever.

Sapphire’s eyes shine translucent blue. He is a child unicorn, flirting with festive spirit by visiting his favourite haunt, Gemstone Glade. There he meets teenage unicorn Ryan. They enjoy a comforting connection, their eyes meeting, merriment and mirth flying between them. They are two of the few local unicorns who have wings, which has cemented their soul connection.

Sapphire is growing up fast, and he is only just beginning to realise the extent of his magical unicorn powers. He blinks shyly, then drops his horn to the fountain waters, asking quietly for something special to happen. His wings flutter as the water connects to his soul.

His horn suddenly glows pink, at the same time as the fountain waters run pink too. A pink square of light appears, about the size of a doorway. Sapphire looks questioningly at Ryan. He lowers his head, signalling a clear yes.

Sapphire flies through the doorway of light, followed by Ryan. They enter a pink world of fairy castles, pink clouds and pink rivers. Sapphire’s horn heats his head as it glows pink.

A pink pigeon flies round them. “You are here to take rose quartz healing energy to Planet Earth. Here…”

The pigeon coos, emitting a cloud of rose pink dust. “Breathe it in, take it with you!”

Sapphire and Ryan feel pink energy course through their veins. “Let’s take this to Planet Earth!” neighs Ryan. Sapphire neighs his agreement.

They fly back through the pink portal, to find themselves in a desert with pyramids and a Sphinx: they are in Egypt. “This is a land of the ancient,” remarks Ryan. They fly round the Sphinx, admiring its ancient architecture, and its withered wisdom. As they fly, pink dust clouds between them and then around the Sphinx.

The Sphinx’s eyes turn in to huge rose quartz crystals, and then emit a pink ray. Ryan and Sapphire stare in amazement, as the Sphinx turns its ancient head and surveys them. It is alive!

The Sphinx’s pink ray encircles Earth like the healing arms of an angel. It enters every hospital ward, and it eases every heart. Like a magic laser pen, it erases covid from the pages of Earth’s story. The covid chapter is finished. It is time for a new – a better – chapter.

“I think we have done what we came here to do,” mutters Ryan. The two unicorns fly back through the pink portal, unaware of the great healing taking place behind them, but certain that they have done some good.

They are back in Gemstone Glade. The portal closes behind them. Slowly, they drink from the fountain. Sapphire’s horn reverts to its normal white colour. The last of the rose pink dust fades in to the dying light.

However, in the corner of the Glade a rose quartz Sphinx has appeared. Ryan and Sapphire regard it, bemused. What magic have they brought back to the glade? One day, they will find out. For now, their adventure is over. It is time to sleep, and to dream of a white and rose pink Christmas.

The Gemstone Glade Christmas tree glistens under the new moon. Its angel ornaments sing together, a song for tomorrow, a prayer for better times.

One of the angels, Peace, has an important task to do. Slowly she flies in to the night sky, leaving Gemstone Glade far behind.

Soon she soars high over Planet Earth, sleeping below this cold December night. She flies above towns and villages, singing softly, waving her snow quartz wand. As she passes, tiny snow unicorns appear in the gardens and fields beneath, frosted messages of hope for a better tomorrow.

The unicorns are still as snow, but then they begin to neigh. They have come alive. All over the Northern world, tiny unicorns shrug off snow and let their quartz bodies shine. Children wake and watch from their windows. Their Christmas wishes have come true. Unicorns are real!

The baby unicorns begin to run, charging in to the night with a mission. Through every town, in every street, unicorns converge. It is time to make a sign.

The next morning, in every city centre, from Trafalgar Square to Place de la Concorde to Times Square, tiny unicorns are arranged to create one word: HOPE.

The world media goes in to overdrive. As the internet buzzes with virtual screams, the unicorns as one sprout wings and fly in to the sky. They accompany some aeroplanes, children squealing with delight within. Then they fly into the clouds and disappear, a mystery as short as sweet.

They are gone, but the message remains: HOPE.

Peace has returned to the Gemstone Glade tree, sitting happily on a branch, mute to the mystery that has unfolded. Hope is in the Gemstone Glade air, as Christmas claims this magic forest glade in its frosty arms. Peace smiles as it begins to snow.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Teenage unicorn Sparkle runs in to Gemstone Glade, the excitement of Christmas in his eyes. His silver mane glows in the moonlight. He neighs softly, the chill night air broken by the spell of Christmas cheer. The angels on the Christmas tree wave at him, smiles like a winter wreath on their faces, joyous and warm.

Like other Gemstone Glade unicorns, Sparkle can weave magic. Tonight, he sits on the ground and rubs his head in the freshly fallen snow. Snowflakes cover his mane like Christmas dandruff. Sparkle flaps his silver wings and flies in to the night.

Sparkle soars high above the city of London, his favourite Earth place to visit. Below, the city is both sleeping and awake, its lights like Christmas stars being born.

As Sparkle flies, snowflakes fall from his mane. However, they are no longer snowflakes.

The minute the snow had touched his mane in Gemstone Glade, enchantment had turned it in to snow fairies. The small white fairies had clung to his mane while he flew. Now, they would fall where needed: wherever a child lay alone in a bedroom, needing some Christmas cheer to light their night.

Sparkle neighs happily as he feels the fairies dropping one by one. They land on children’s bedroom windows, and begin to sing an ancient hymn. Children all over London wake up, and open their curtains. Delight dances in their eyes.

The fairies draw pictures on the windows using fairy magic. Unicorns, kittens and rabbits appear as they breathe on the glass. The children shriek in glee.

The fairies wave, and are gone. As the children return, mesmerised, to bed, the sweetest dreams weave their spell around them.

In the morning, they will find tiny fairy footsteps in their garden. These will fade, but the magic and the memory will not.

The small hedgehog lay down beneath the thick bush, tugging leaves over himself. Time to withdraw from the winter chills. Sleep claimed him like a defending knight, vanquishing the cold and laying a protective sword of warmth next to him. It was time to dream.

Rose Quartz Rebecca, one of the Gemstone Glade crystal fairies, flew around him, spreading rose dust. Then she sat next to the sleeping hog, singing a lullaby, one that her mother – Rosebay Willow – used to softly sing to her each night. Rebecca gently laid a small rose quartz pebble beneath the hog. “Sleep well, little one.”

The rose quartz glowed in the winter night. It was a magical stone, with deep healing properties. As the hog slept, instead of shedding fat he actually grew. His brain rocked within a rose quartz cloud, as the sweetest dreams kept him entertained all winter.

When he awoke in the spring, he found the rose quartz. He knew what to do. Taking it in his mouth, he laid it outside one of the neighbouring houses. The next day, five year old Emily found it. Delight lit her face like a rose quartz lamp. “Mum! Mum! Look!”

That night, as Emily slept, she found herself in Gemstone Glade. Rose Quartz Rebecca flew down to greet her. Unicorn Ryan arrived and they played hide and seek among the trees. She had never been so happy. When Emily awoke, somehow she knew it had been no dream. A memory murmured in her heart, asleep but to awake again one day.

She touched the rose quartz crystal, wondering what secrets it could tell. One day she would find out. For now, she could but dare to dream. And as she succumbed to sweet slumber each night, her rose quartz crystal grew larger. By the summer, it was the size of her palm. By the following autumn, it was the shape of a unicorn. And when winter came, the tiny unicorn crept out of the house, to patrol the gardens looking for hedgehogs, casting his unicorn spell over them to keep them safe all winter. For the magic of rose quartz never dies.

Christmas sighs within the chill air, as laughter drifts on the icy breeze. Gemstone Glade fairies arrive for their favourite day of the year: the arrival of the Gemstone Glade Christmas Tree.

Excitement lights up the glade with fairy fun. Five large glowing angels arrive, holding the ropes that guide a magical tree to earth, blessed by celestial beings, every pine needle oozing with quiet mystery.

The tree shines with the joy of Christmas, emitting happy energy like a New Age air freshener. Tiny angel ornaments glisten in the light of the moon. Then they fly free, whizzing around the glade, miniature wings fluttering in a frenzy. The angels are each a different colour of the rainbow. The fairies know that they will have a mission, as do most of the beings in Gemstone Glade. They will find out soon what it is.

A black and gleaming star sits atop the tree like a king on a throne. A soft neighing fills the glade. It is Ryan, one of the teenage unicorns. He is one of the few local unicorns with wings. Ryan’s eyes twinkle, reflecting the light of the tree. He is a children’s unicorn, flying many times in to the night to help unhappy little ones all over Planet Earth. His work is never done.

Ryan stares at the top of the tree, mesmerised, magic all around him. The star grows bigger, flying slowly towards Ryan. The fairies watch, their cold breath stuck in their throats in anxious anticipation.

The star is now large enough for a unicorn to slip through. And that is exactly what Ryan does, wings dancing as he flies through the dark star and is gone. A collective intake of breath breaks the silence. The fairies are in happy shock; magic is as usual alive in the glade.

Ryan sails through clouds and then lands on soft grass, purple crystals rising from the ground like the teeth of gods.

“Welcome.” Ryan looks up. It is a black unicorn. He has not met one before, everyone at Gemstone Glade is white. He has heard that the blacks possess deep magical powers.

“I am Melodian. You have come to our land from afar?”

Ryan walks with Melodian and learns about his unicorn race. Another unicorn joins them, Moonlight.

“There is a prophecy that one day a white unicorn will visit this land. We are in a kind of Unicorn Heaven. We heal sick unicorns here. We also visit other worlds, mending with magic wherever we can. You have arrived for a reason. The star on your Christmas Tree is an interdimensional portal, and it will send you where you need to go. We may have something for you to take back. It is very precious. Come … this way.”

The unicorns enter a large hollow crystal. Melodian points to a stone tablet on the floor. “When you rub your horn against this tablet, it will reveal secrets to you. Take it with you. It will fly next to you if you ask it. Then bury it in your world until the right time. I suspect that time will be Christmas Day, a remarkable day of the year when love cradles the Earth like an angelic mother. Take the tablet, with our blessing. Good luck, my friend.”

The star reappears. Ryan flies swiftly back, the tablet rising before him. He will bury it in the glade. Christmas Day will be like no other this year.