# What's on top? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 16, 2012, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-on-top/644209 "2012-12-16T19:23:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-on-top/644209/1 "2012-12-16T19:23:47Z")
Those of you who put up a Chirstmas tree: What’s at the top? I’m from a star family, but my husband feels that the tree’s all wrong without an angel on top, despite the fact that he’s totally nonreligious. It’s tradition, he says, because his family always had an angel. So we argue, _mostly_ jokingly, about it every year, and have ended up just alternating between the two. What do you do? Do you top the tree with a star, an angel, or something else? (Poll on its way) ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-on-top/644209/2 "2012-12-16T19:29:04Z")
I voted None of the Above because we put a stuffed Bumble on top. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-on-top/644209/3 "2012-12-16T19:56:36Z")
We have one of those totally fugly disco ball toppers. It’s based on the one my fiance’s family had in the 70’s but it’s a newer version (in other words, it’s less likely to burn the house down). I spent 5 years trying to find one for him and the first time he put it on the tree, he dropped it and broke the back half of the ball. It’s ok though, the front still looks good. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Silvorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Silvorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silvorange)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-on-top/644209/4 "2012-12-16T20:37:15Z")
When I was growing up, our star was one that my dad had made out of a disposable aluminum pie pan. Five points, each creased down the middle, glitter (made from the same pie pan) all over, and a blue light stuck through the middle. I have made a couple of similar ones for myself over the years. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-on-top/644209/5 "2012-12-16T20:54:05Z")
Supposedly it’s an angel holding some stringed musical instrument. Except her wings broke off sometime between last Christmas’s trip into the attic and this Christmas’s trip out so now she’s just a blonde chick in a fur-trimmed dress who looks like she’s holding a guitar. I stuck her on top and said it’s Taylor Swift. ---
**Author:** ![Rollo\_Tomasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Rollo\_Tomasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rollo_Tomasi)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-on-top/644209/6 "2012-12-16T21:07:43Z")
We have a big red velvet bow with little twist ties on the back so we can attach it to the top branch. I seem to recall that we had an angel when I was a little kid, but now I can’t remember what happened to it. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-on-top/644209/7 "2012-12-16T21:36:01Z")
Santa. He’s about 7 inches tall and has gone on top of the family tree for longer than I can remember. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-on-top/644209/8 "2012-12-16T21:56:21Z")
The years that I put up a full Christmas tree, I have a long red-and-green-plaid wired ribbon that I tie in a big bow to the top of the tree and let the ends trail down the sides. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-on-top/644209/9 "2012-12-16T22:17:13Z")
We used to use an old-style [Madeline](http://www.tootlesandslightly.com/dolls_madeline/poseable_madeline.htm) doll that had had a hard life. One year we made her a gown and lovely gold wigs and strapped her up on top of the tree as an angel, a role she may still be playing. She looks great, and less sappy than the standard angel. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-on-top/644209/10 "2012-12-16T23:46:19Z")
No tree yet. Christmas is till more than a week away. When we get one, well figure out something to top it with ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-on-top/644209/11 "2012-12-16T23:54:27Z")
We have a German glass spire for the top of our tree. Bought it at an antique store 15 years or so ago. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-on-top/644209/12 "2012-12-17T00:20:41Z")
A large gold bow made from a ribbon. ---
**Author:** ![Hokkaido\_Brit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d26b3c/32.png) [@Hokkaido\_Brit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hokkaido_Brit)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-on-top/644209/13 "2012-12-17T00:38:12Z")
A pair of toy mice dressed up as a bride and groom, that we were given by a dear friend at our Christmas wedding. We came home and stuck them on the tree, and they have been used ever since. I use the wreath from my veil as a decoration, too. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-on-top/644209/14 "2012-12-17T00:46:23Z")
An angel, but we used to have a teddy bear. He had the appropriate orifice in which to place a card board tube which then slid over the top of the tree. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-on-top/644209/15 "2012-12-17T01:19:07Z")
We go traditional with an angel. As I edge closer to atheism in my dotage, it really doesn’t matter to me, but Christmas has pretty much become just a remembrance of childhood. ---
**Author:** ![ChickaPicosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@ChickaPicosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChickaPicosa)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-on-top/644209/16 "2012-12-17T02:08:22Z")
The Christmas trees of my childhood were all topped by my mother’s creepy angel. My own Christmas tree topper is a star. Honestly, if I could find a non-creepy angel I would use it, but that day hasn’t come yet. So, the star remains. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-on-top/644209/17 "2012-12-17T02:13:46Z")
A big silver bow. The top branches on my tree are too flimsy to hold anything that has any weight to it. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-on-top/644209/18 "2012-12-17T02:15:43Z")
I have never put up a Christmas tree since moving out from my family and am racking my brains to remember what we used when I was growing up. I _think_ it was an angel. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-on-top/644209/19 "2012-12-17T02:23:59Z")
I want to put a baby veliciraptor ornament on top of the tree, but SWMBO ain’t havin’ none of that. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-on-top/644209/20 "2012-12-17T03:05:00Z")
Growing up, there was always a German glass spire, much like **MissTake** does. As an adult, when I still put a tree up, it varied: some years it was a star, sometimes a Santa, big bow or teddy bear. Never did the angel thing though. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-on-top/644209.md?page=2)