A Christmas Star Story

My husband and I shared our first married Christmas 36 years ago and of that first happy experience came a special star story to share with you.

Now these were the early days when Mike would still shop with me and try really hard to act like he enjoyed it. We were both working full time in downtown Cincinnati and of course we worked very long hours, trying to build careers. And as amazing as this sounds now, Mike handled all the money even though we were both working. I put my salary in the bank every Friday (no direct deposit then) and Mike would “give” me money as I needed, but of course I had to ask. This was 1973 and this was how the world was.

We both had grown up in families that always had real Christmas trees. Artificial trees were not so readily available and the only person I knew that actually had one was my Tete Menka. She had a magical silver tree (which I am sure was made of some weird metallic polyester fiber) that was on a revolving stand, and had colored lights. As the stand moved, the tree rotated and the lights changed color. Wow, this was stupendous. Anyway, one night after work Mike and I went to Natorp’s, a nice nursery in Cincinnati, to choose a tree. I was so excited but of course he was “the man” and had to approve my choices and the cost. We chose a tree and on the way to the car, I passed a display of tree toppers. One was a gold star that lit up and it cost the absolutely amazing price of $7.99. This was a big deal, considering a 7’ tree cost 10 bucks.

I so wanted this star – it put stars in my eyes. So Mike smiled at me and said, yes, we could afford it. He placed it at the top of the tree in 1973 and it has been our tree topper every year since. The lights of course burned out long ago, but I wired tree lights into it and it still shines brightly. We have been blessed with so much in our lives, and every year when I see this star I am reminded of how fortunate we are to still have each other and our beautiful star. I am sure you all have a similar story and I hope you share it this year. Merry Christmas and special blessings to all of you from BECKY KNOWS EVERYTHING!!