Fi Phillips

Christmas is peering around the corner. This year especially, it seems to have come round quickly for my household. I feel almost ambushed by its sudden approach. I'm not a religious person but I do believe in the magic of life. It's in my sack of greatest gifts along with health, children, choice and imagination. Putting aside the shopping and materialistic side of the festive season, Christmas has always held a magic for me. Maybe it's because my parents made a big effort to set the day apart as something special, hiding even the decorations until a week before the big day. Christmas Day was one of the few times of the year when my family would spend the whole day together without the thought of preparing for the next day. We would sit around in our pyjamas, giving and opening gifts, eating things that probably weren't very good for us (nuts and raisins, mince pies, chocolate), and watching our fill of festive TV. My mother would cook up the traditional lunch, ser...

"There's a rainbow in the sky all the time, don't be blind." Rainbow in the Sky, Ziggy Marley Even on the dullest of days, weatherwise or emotionally, a rainbow can cheer us up. In Chapter Two of my novel, Split , one of the main characters is pulled from the misery of a rainy day in this way. "The lights changed and he was jostled along with the flock of pedestrians crossing the road, grey normal people going about their grey normal lives, all in a state of denial. He turned a corner and the sun came out, so bright he had to close his eyes. A warm hand touched his own and he yelped. The child couldn't have been more than seven years old. Her dark blonde hair was tied back off her face with a yellow ribbon and her long purple coat, an ill-fitting hand-me-down, almost touched her boots. She beamed at him with sky-blue eyes. "Isn't it beautiful?" "Sorry?" Steve was still kicking himself for crying out like a baby. "Up there." H...