The Christmas Star

My young wife and I went for a walk through the Hillview Acres neighborhood.  When we got to the back of the subdivision we continued into the woods.  Our booted feet crunched in the thin layer of snow on the ground, but we were warmed by the love of a newly married couple.

We were looking for the perfect tree.

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Annie had one semester left as she worked toward her Bachelor’s Degree and I was working at Wal-Mart so we didn’t have a lot of money, but we did have a whole lot of love, and we had big dreams.

We watched our pennies carefully as we planned for the future.  Someday we’d have a big family and a nice house in the country.  But right then we were living in a house I’d bought before we got married, so we had a house payment and utility bills besides groceries to buy.

Money was tight.

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As we walked toward Hinkson Creek we looked at and rejected several small cedar trees before we found one that was the right height and full enough for our desires.  A couple swings of my axe was all it took to separate it from its roots.  We half-pulled, half-carried it back through Hillview Acres to our house, then shook the snow off the needles and moved the little tree into the living room.

I pieced together some scrap wood to make a stand and attached our tiny Tannenbaum.  It was then stood in the corner between the antique radio I’d inherited from the previous homeowners and the wall where I’d hung the letters I’d cut out of scrap wood using a band-saw the same owners had left behind in the little storage shed out back. 

The letters spelled out, “Scott & Ann.”

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We had a few ornaments we’d each brought into the marriage and they were hung carefully on the tree.  Some were too big for the spindly limbs so were stored away for some bigger tree in the future.

I had picked up a busted package of construction paper at Wal-Mart.  The department manager had said she was going to throw it away but I could have it if I wanted it.  Annie and I cut some of the paper into strips, then curled them and glued them into a chain of multi colored rings.

That night the two of us sat in front of the TV eating popcorn and stringing some of the popped treat onto some thread using a needle.

I’d bought a few strings of Christmas lights at Wal-Mart that had been returned because they wouldn’t work.  I painstakingly checked each little light, installing them then removing them until I’d managed to piece-together a working string.  They added a cheerful brightness to the tree.

We bought and made each other gifts which nestled under the overhanging boughs. 

I honestly don’t remember what any of them were.

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The lights shorted out and were discarded long ago.  Of course the popcorn string only made it that season before going out to feed our feathered friends.  The paper chain was repaired and added to over the years so, while we do still have it, I’m not sure if any of the parts of the original remain.

Some of the ornaments we used that first year are still with us although more than a few have been broken over the years.  They have been supplemented by many more which have been gifted to us or brought home from school by the boys.

There is one decoration that has lasted through all the intervening years though.  Somewhere one of us had acquired a shining star to sit atop a tree, but there was problem with it.  It was too heavy to work with that first tree.  I tried to attach it but no matter what I did the top of the tree would sag and curve downward.

To occupy the space vacated by the store-bought star, I rescued a cereal box from the trash can and carefully cut out a less-than-perfect star, which I then wrapped with aluminum foil.  Its modest beauty sat atop that first Christmas tree.

It has sat at the pinnacle of each and every tree we’ve put up since that very first one.  It’s just as ugly as it was that first year, but we both love it just as much as we did then.

It’s beautiful to us.

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When Christmas arrived that year, we sat beside the tree and shared our modest gifts.  As we sat, holding each other close, I first said the words I’ve said perhaps every Christmas since…

“Best Christmas EVER!”

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We didn’t know it yet but our little family had already started to grow.  Scotty arrived in August and was with us for the second Christmas.  After him, J.B. joined us not long after the third one.  A few years later it was Bobby and T.J., then Andy, and finally, Patrick.  Since then we’ve been joined by daughters-in- law and a multitude of awesome grandchildren.

Each year, usually the smallest grandchild who is big enough to do the job is held up to place that little cardboard-and-aluminum foil star at the top of the tree.  Now and then one of the grandbabies will ask why we use that ornament rather than something nicer and we’ll share the story of that first Christmas after Grannie and Pa were married, and everyone agrees that the star is not ready to be retired from active service just yet.

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This year Annie and I have travelled to different sons’ houses to celebrate the holiday with them and grandbabies.  We’re still not done and won’t be until after the new year.

Christmas day, though, Annie and I were alone in our little house.  We texted all the boys and made or answered calls from some of them.  And used the blessing of FaceTime to share a little bit of the holiday with some.

But much of the day was spent in relative quiet.  We talked of all the years and all the changes since that first Christmas.  In the last almost 40 years we have added six sons, a similar number of daughters-in-law, and soon to be 14 precious grandbabies.  We talked about all the sparkling lights, happy faces, and warm hearts that simple aluminum foil star has witnessed.  About it all I had one simple thing to say.

Best Christmas ever!

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Next week we begin the new year – 2023.  I hope you and yours will join me in enjoying another year of life and marching to the beat of A Different Drummer.

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