Angel on the Tree

I don’t know what year we bought her. We got married in August 1986 and I would assume we purchased her that Christmas season but the reddish/orange “Pay-and-Pak” (no longer exists) price tag makes me think we got her on a special half-price post-Christmas sale for the whopping price of $6.99 ($15 in today’s prices). Or, maybe, we got her for half that: $3.99 ($7.50 in today’s prices).

She’s pretty but not what I consider beautiful. As angels go, she’s a bit plain. Porcelain head and hands, her eyes are closed as if in prayer or she’s asleep. She lacks a halo. Her dress is cloth and flimsy, held up only by a plastic insert that used to contain Christmas lights. Christmas lights that blinked. We didn’t want a blinking angel as if signaling a turn at the next ornament. Once we couldn’t figure out how to stop her from blinking, or the lights finally died, we removed the lights.

She is unnamed.

Whether purchased in December 1986 or January 1987, she has been our angel tree-topper for nearly 30 years. Stored away in her original worn cardboard box. I fear – like Jessie from “Toy Story 2” that she panics in her box, surrounded by a myriad of other ornaments, in an even larger green and red Sterlite container. Waiting patiently for that moment when she gets freedom for a month. Freedom which equates to being skewered on the top of a fake tree.

Once Michelle and Nick were old enough, they would take turns putting the angel on the tree. This typically involved me holding them at some sort of awkward angle and leaning into the tree, hoping that we wouldn’t all come crashing down. This also included the cacophony of much laughter, “Don’t drop me!” screams of terror, “Hold still while I get a picture!,” “I’m losing my grip! Hurry up and take the picture!” “Careful of the tree!”…and then, after Angel awkwardly shoved onto a branch or two, a sigh of relief. All this while Bing Crosby happily croons in the background.

After the child is placed safely on the floor near the tree, we would then stare at the last ornament of the evening, tilt our heads back and forth to determine “straightness” and then I would reach up and tweak her position for best Christmas tree Feng shui. Sure, we might move an ornament or two or get one as a gift and place it on the tree. But, for all intents and purposes, the placing of the angel – as with many homes around this nation – signaled that the decorating of the tree was done. Now was the time for cookies, hot cocoa and hot apple cider and reveling at what was now finished.

Nick, not needing a stool or his father's help from 2013.

As the years sped by, the children took turns putting the angel on the tree. Whoever didn’t get to put the angel on the tree got to put baby Jesus in the Fontanini manger. Every year the same question was asked: “Who put the angel on the tree?” At which point scrapbooks would be opened or the photos from the previous Christmas would be found and looked at to determine proper angel placement.

Then, as the children continued to grow, holding the child would become more awkward (but still hilarious). Maybe a step stool would be involved. But as the tradition continued, a photo would be taken, baby Jesus manger person would be determined and the Christmas season would move forward to the next tradition.

Even last year our soon-to-be daughter-in-law Karin got the distinct honor of placing the nearly 30 year old $6.99 Pay-and-Pak sleeping angel on the tree. And I think Michelle’s friend, Michelle, got to put baby Jesus in the manger (I’ll have to check the photos for evidence).

 Karin doing the honors Christmas 2014

Michelle Wang placing baby Jesus - from 2011?

This year, though, the kids are out of the house. They’ve moved on beyond the world of awkward angel tree topping to their own lives. They want to buy their own trees and decorate their own houses and celebrate in their own ways and make their own traditions…and more power to them. That still doesn’t mean I don’t miss nearly throwing my back out shoving a kid at a plastic Martha Stewart pre-lit tree.

Michelle came over this year and placed the angel on the tree (via step stool).

In a world where the pressure is to “buy more memories” and spend the almighty dollar, who knew that something so inexpensive would become so valuable when you add layers of tradition, memories and love upon it?

At some point Miriam and I will leave this mortal coil and my children will have to root through and discard our things. Hopefully the unnamed angel, in all her basic glory, will find a home.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!