A star for my tree

I am sure we were like many families who worked this weekend to decorate our Christmas tree. There are years when this chore seems to go very well and years when it is like pulling teeth to complete. Today, I am happy for two reasons. One that it went very well this year and two, that we finally found a topper we like for our tree.

For several years we have looked for a star--one that incorporates the Christmas story--"and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was,"  Matthew 2:9--into our Christmas tree decoration.

I have tried so many toppers including a big bow and an angel but since we have had our man-made tree (this is the third year) all of my toppers have literally been a flop. That is because when I put something with any size and weight on the top branch, it just flops right over. While were were using real trees they all worked but since we purchased our nice man-made one (because of allergies) we haven't had a tree topper that we liked.

I have enjoyed the ease of a man-made tree but I miss the smell. There are things I don't miss. I don't miss the mess, the afternoon choosing the right tree, the tree disposal and most of all, the stitches my husband had to get one year, after cutting his hand, rather than the tree.

After shopping this year for a topper, the first one I bought was a really lovely airy, lighted star at Michael's, but it just flopped right over and the electric cord didn't reach either.

The winner was something I made from two plastic glittered star ornaments purchased from the dollar store, glued together by Goop. I aligned the stars back-to-back, glued the two pieces together, cut out a hole in the bottom of the stars to fit over the tree and my husband carefully put the finishing touch on our tree. We immediately knew it was perfect--and the perfect reminder of why we celebrate this time of year.