(This a slightly changed re-post of a post I believe I last published in 2010.)
At the top of our Christmas tree each year proudly sits an unusual star. It is made out of cardboard and covered with aluminum foil and tape. The star is kind of lopsided with each of its points a little different in size and shape. It is simple, modest, and hand-made. It’s showing its age. Over the years even more foil and tape have been added to repair it.
In some ways, the star doesn’t really fit the rest of the tree with all of its bright ornaments. My Beloved and our children have suggested many times over the years that we throw it out and buy something else for the top of our tree.
I understand why they’ve wanted a much prettier ornament to top our tree, but to me it is the most beautiful and fitting one for the most honored spot on the tree.
When I was about 20 years old and still single, I owned a business that was failing. I was in debt, and the business wasn’t producing income. That Christmas was a very modest one for me. I was only able to afford a small tree and a few ornaments for it.
The young lady I was dating at the time asked me why there was no ornament at the top of the tree. I admitted that I couldn’t afford one. So she made one for me out of cardboard, aluminum foil and tape. It was new, shiny, and beautiful to me.
Nearly a year later that young lady became My Beloved Wife. By then my business had failed. We had no money. (To this day, I still sometimes joke to her that she married me for my money.)
Things were so challenging for us financially that for a couple of years we didn’t even have a bed. We slept in a double-wide sleeping bag on top of a comforter on the floor.
The star has stayed with us through thick and thin over the years. In the good years it reminds us of our humble beginnings and how little we truly need when we have the love and health of our family.
In the leaner years it has reminded us of the adversities that we’ve overcome together, and that our love will always outlast the hard times.
To me that star is a fitting symbol of our long-lasting love, imperfections and all.
Most of all, that star reminds me of the many ways that the young woman who became My Beloved Wife has made my life immeasurably better.
There’s no way I’m going to throw it away!
Russ Towne's A Grateful Man 
Hello there,
I am very excited to let you know that I have nominated you for the Inspiring Blog Award. I have included a brief explanation of what makes your blog so inspirational to me here:
Thanks for inspiring me, and may inspiration be always present in abundance in your life!
That’s a lovely story….you are blessed. When our family was ‘young’ and we didn’t have money to buy a ‘creche’ my husband got some spare wood around, and we only had black and white paint so he painted the sides black and put the white (with some glitter) to pretend it was snow. Even thought there was not snow in Bethlehem there was on our creche…To this day we still use the same one and like you it has a foil covered star on the top…Memories eh? ..Diane
Beautiful memories indeed! Thank you for sharing yours!
Russ
Thank you for sharing your story, Diane. Memories, indeed!
Russ
Beautiful ….. I would keep it forever, too ♥ A precious reminder of your love for each other ~
Thank you for your kind post!
Russ
😉
Sadly, another Russel Ray camping trip comes to an end………………..
I hope you had a great time!
Russ
Wow! When you camp, you really CAMP! I hope you found the accomodations quite acceptable and I look forward to being your host again! You’re welcome anytime! It’s getting late (about midnight) so I plan to visit your site again tomorrow afternoon after the investment markets close.
I just saw one of your posts–the one about not following someone who frequently swears in their blog. There are are couple of people who follow me and who I have tried to follow, but their posts were so full of stuff that I didn’t want to have to deal with that I simply wouldn’t subject myself to it. I’m no prude–and I unfortunately swear, usually just to myself–I work alone–but some bloggers seem to think that if they aren’t always crude and vulgar in every post they won’t be funny or won’t be read. It’s sad because some have real potential as writers and I don’t think they know how much potential target audience gets turned off by it. It’s like comedians who seem to feel if they aren’t vulgar they won’t be funny. I love it when a comedian is hilarious and doesn’t need to use profanity as their primary form of communication. Thank you for that post and thank you for camping out here!
Russ
Many decades ago I was a huge fan of comedy — ……..Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Jerry Seinfeld, Eddie Murphy
I was living in Houston at the time, so San Antonio/Austin, Dallas/Ft. Worth, and New Orleans all were within easy driving distance. I went to see Goldberg, Williams, Carlin, Pryor, and Murphy all in the course of six or sevin months. Previously I was familiar with them only from films and The Comedy Channel. I was never so disgusted at the vulgarity and vileness of those people in their live comedy shows. I gave up on comedy.
Now if you watch The Comedy Show, all that vulgarity and vileness is actually approved for late night viewing.
I miss Bob Hope and Bill Cosby, the only two who, in my mind, understood good clean comedy and fun.
I too loved to watch Hope and Cosby and some others who chose a similar path.
For everyone else who reads this comment: I want to make clear that my decision to not follow certain blogs is about me and my choices. I focus on being FOR things rather than against other things. So I’m FOR reading blogs that I enjoy, that enhance my life, and that I want to read. If for some reason I have not chosen to follow your blog it may be for many reasons but most oten it is because there aren’t enough hours in a day to follow everyone who follows me and still have a life outside the blogosphere, and I’m not going to pretend to follow a blog if I don’t or won’t read it. I tend to focus my time on blogs and other activities that feed my soul. I believe there is a niche for everyone, but all niches are not for me.
Russ