Merry Christmas To All

 Here is my new angel on the top of my tree, photographed today. My old angel is retired and has a place on the fireplace mantel. I fancy I see a sweet smile on the face of this angel. Do you?

Here is a poem from "Voices in the Mist" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, quoted in our "A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts: Stories to Warm Your Heart and Tips to Simplify Your Holiday" book:

The time draws near the birth of Christ:

The moon is hid; the night is still;

The Christmas bells from hill to hill

Answer each other in the mist.

Four voices of four hamlets round,

From far and near, on mead and moor,

Swell out and fail, as if a door

Were shut between me and the sound:

Each voice four changes on the wind,

That now dilate, and now decrease,

Peace and goodwill, goodwill and peace,

Peace and goodwill to all mankind.

This post was written by co-author Terra Hangen with the intent of spreading Christmas joy

Topping off Christmas--Tree Toppers

This week the Word Quilters will share personal insights and the history of some Christmas traditions.

What do you put on top of your Christmas Tree, or do you put anything special at the topmost spike?

We never put anything on top of our tree until our children started to school. One year our daughter's school class drew self portraits that were then glued onto flying angels. She brought it home mid-December about the time we put up our tree, so I let her put it at the top. Her "angel" had a cute face and blond pigtails. Her brother, three years older, tolerated our tree topper that year, but by the next he protested her place of eminence.

That's when we bought a star. Our first star was an elegant glass star ornament about 14 inches tall. It lasted ten years or more, but then one year we found it shattered when we got out our Christmas decorations. That's when we bought a more durable, think plastic, star.

The star atop Christmas trees, reminds folk of the special "star" that shone over the place where the Christ Child lived in Bethlehem. This star's first appearance in the sky alerted the magi from the east that something magnificent was happening on earth, and they searched out the king star mystery because it was written in star script in the sky. If you want to know more about that original appearance in the sky, see this Web site by Rick Larsen, his findings, world wide lectures, and now a classy DVD with "star" explanations.

There are so many things I love about stars. They dispel darkness and gloom. I like that they shine so bright that stars millions and millions of miles away can be seen with the naked eye. A friend who had eye surgery was asked how his eyes were doing and he said, "They're great. I can see 93 million miles." Of course he was talking about seeing our sun star.

OK, I know I've rambled a bit getting around to the reason stars are placed on top of Christmas trees. How about your tree topper tradition? What do you put on top of your tree. Let us know.