Angels we have heard on high …
It’s me again. A couple of days ago Gayle mentioned here that we were looking for a tree topper. There appears to be two types commonly available: The Angel, and the Star. So far, none of them of really appeal to us. For me, the angel is really a non-starter. I’ve just never like the looks of them, and my opinion of them was warped at a young age with the story of “Why does an Angel sit at the top of a tree?” If you do a search, I’m sure your search engine of choice will serve you up a dozen variations on the theme. But this is how I remember it:
Santa is running late on Christmas Eve. All kinds of last minute things have cropped up and the normally jolly old elf is getting a bit stressed. Half his elven workforce is down with the flu, and the rest are getting clumsy with fatigue. Quality control is really beginning to slip. And don’t get him started on the temp elves the agency sent over. All in all, it’s anybody’s guess whether or not they’ll get the toys done in time. Then when he goes to check out the sleigh, he finds that someone left a garage window cracked open last summer and the sleigh is covered in snow and ice. So bad is it that he now has a team of elven mechanics working on it, trying to get the rust off. It’s unknown if the primer is going to be dry in time. Next stop is the reindeer pens, where he finds three of his team have jumped the fence and are nowhere to be found. A team of security elves is dispatched to look for them. Finally, with the clock relentless counting down to launch time, the first bag of toys is hauled from the toy shop to be loaded on the sleigh. One of the elves slips on the ice, the bag is dropped, rips open, and toys are scattered across the ice. A clean-up team is called to get everything repacked. The security team reports that they’ve located the missing reindeer, but it’s going to take another half-hour to get them back and in the harnesses. And, there are whispers being passed around that two of the reindeer might be pregnant and will need to be replaced for this year’s run. A physician elf is called to check them over. With time to leave only minutes away, Santa stamps back into the house, the red in his cheeks no longer caused by the crisp clean air. No sooner has he closed the door when Mrs. Claus cheerfully informs him that her parents will be visiting for Christmas day (and the next two weeks.) While he’s still spluttering to this news, the doorbell rings. Nearly incoherent, Santa turns around and rips open the door. On the step is a little angel, sweet as can be and precious as the morning dew. Behind her is the new Christmas tree he had order two months previously. “Merry Christmas, Santa!” she says, with a twinkle in her eye. “I have your tree here, where would you like me to stick it?”
And that’s why there’s an angel on top of the Christmas tree.
Now I can’t see an angel tree topper without laughing. It’s not considered conducive to the Christmas spirit, so I try to keep it to myself, but for my own personal (well, shared with Gayle) tree, I’d like something more heart-warming then side splitting. What can I say? I’m easily amused. Anyway, the search goes on.