Origin Of The Christmas Angel

Have you ever wondered where the tradition of putting an angel instead of a star on top of our Christmas trees comes from? Doing a bit of digging, we can find countless potential explanations, the most popular one obviously being for the birth of baby Jesus. But there is one story that drew a smile on my face, and I’m hoping that it does the same for you.

One particular Christmas season a long time ago, Santa was getting ready for his annual trip … but there were problems everywhere. Four of his elves got sick, and the trainee elves did not produce the toys as fast as the regular ones so Santa was beginning to feel the pressure of being behind schedule.

This added to the fact that Mrs. Claus had informed Santa that her mother was coming to visit over the holidays. This obviously stressed Santa even more.

Later, when he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two had jumped the fence and were out, heaven knows where. More stress.

Then, when he began to load the sleigh, one of the boards cracked and the toy bag fell to the ground and scattered the toys. Santa was fuming at that point.

So, frustrated, Santa went into the house for a cup of coffee and a shot of whiskey. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered that the elves had hidden the liquor and there was nothing to drink. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the coffee pot and it broke into hundreds of little pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found that mice had eaten the straw it was made from.

Just then the doorbell rang and Santa cursed on his way to the door. He opened the door and there was a little angel with a great big Christmas tree.

All radiant and smiling; the angel said, very cheerfully, “Merry Christmas Santa. Isn’t it just a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Isn’t it just a lovely tree? Where would you like me to stick it?“

Thus began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.