LIFE will never be the same for Diana Vickers. Early last summer she was just another pupil at Westholme School in Blackburn.

But she has fame after 12 million people followed her highs and lows of her time on ITV talent contest The X Factor.

And this has never been more apparent to Diana than during her return to her home in Hyndburn this festive period.

“It’s quite weird how people recognise me in the street,” she said.

“One woman came up to me and said she felt really close to me and that she knew all about my life.

“I do love it when people come over and chat though. It’s what it’s all about.”

She has continued to appear in tabloid newspapers, despite her X Factor experience ending in the semi final. Just this past week paparazzi pictures of her attending a party appeared in a red top.

But despite all the things that have changed, Christmas remained the same for Diana.

Speaking from her mum’s home in Huncoat, she said: “We had a really quiet family day at Christmas.

“My dad came round and my auntie Pauline and my cousins were there.

“We had a traditional meal at the table. We had Christmas songs playing and friends came round later to exchange gifts.

“I’ve mainly got money this year because I’ve been given so much stuff in the show.

“But I did get some expensive make-up and make-up brushes for the X Factor tour, a Sex and the City DVD, the Mamma Mia DVD and a pamper day that me, my sister and my mum are going on this Saturday.

“My friend also got me a load of toiletries for the tour because I’m so useless at thinking of things like that.”

She also spent time with her ex-boyfriend Chris Jones, 18, who she split up with after rumours in the national press that she was dating fellow contestant Eoghan, a claim she has always denied.

Diana said: “I’m not back with him. We’re really close. I’ve known him since being about four. He’s like my best friend.

“I want him to be in my life for a very long time, but I’m only 17 and I only have so much to give and that has to be on my career at the moment.”

New Year’s Eve saw her attend a party at the Dunkenhalgh Hotel in Clayton-le-Moors with friends.

She said: “A friend had a room there and we stayed there chatting, going down to dance every now and then, but I was so tired. I stayed over at a friend’s house afterwards.”

Her New Year resolutions are to eat healthily and exercise and “to have 12 crazy memories from the year.

"I want to do something impulsive that I’ve never done before each month – like jumping into a lake.” Her main focus, however, are work-related goals.

Once her fortnight-long trip home is over she will head to the bright lights of London to live.

She said: “I want to put everything into my career so that at the next New Year countdown I can look back and know I have achieved everything I could.

“I think the year will be very busy.

“I’ve got a lot of gigs lined up.

“But I’m in the dark about recording deals.

“I don’t know if Gary Barlow was serious about signing me.

“I hope to spend the next couple of years working in music and really exploring different music genres.

“I want to move to London and meet amazing people and one day release an album with my own songs that I have put my blood, sweat and tears into.”