Every Christmas, without fail, there’s a quiet divide in living rooms across the world.
Is your tree topped with a Star or angel?
It shows up when the box comes down from the attic. Someone reaches in, lifts the topper, and the question gets asked, sometimes out loud, sometimes by habit.
So I’ll ask the Chalkheads straight: Star family or angel family?
We are a star family. Nothing against the angel. The angel belongs, but not on top of our tree. Angels usually announce that something is about to go down. They show up with news and instructions. They speak to shepherds, to Mary, Elizabeth, to Joseph. They tell you what is happening and what it means. The angel says, Pay attention, this is important.
That’s a good tradition, a comforting one, but the star tells a different story.
The star doesn’t speak.
It doesn’t explain.
It doesn’t interrupt your life.
It simply appears and waits.
The Christmas star didn’t announce anything to the powerful or the prepared. It showed up for the believers. The star appeared to the Magi and to the shepherds out in the field.
The star didn’t demand belief but invited movement and that is the difference. An angel delivers a message to you. A star requires you to go toward it.
Following the star meant packing up, leaving home, taking chances, risk being wrong. No guarantee the light would shine by the end of the journey. There was no assurance that the magi and shepherds would understand what they found when they arrived.
That is faith the hard way. Faith with mileage on it. Faith that requires movement. That is why the star sits at the top of our tree.
It isn’t decoration, but an orientation in search and discovery. A star says you don’t need certainty; you need conviction. You don’t need answers, you need the willingness to move toward something good, something true, even when the road is long and the night is cold.
There is another layer to it, whether people say it out loud or not.
The star echoes the Star of David. Light held in shape, heaven and earth overlapping with belief tied to action. It reminds us that faith isn’t just what you say but what you believe. It is what you practice, who you protect and how you show up. Whether you keep the light on when it would be easier to shut it off. For it is in giving that we receive.
The angel tells you what happened. The star asks you what you are going to do about it. We chose the star because it fits how we live. The star doesn’t promise ease, it promises direction and on the shortest, darkest nights of the year... that is enough for this rusted out old somabitch
So, I’ll ask again, Chalkheads: Star or angel?
