Rudolph Day - Stars

There are so many symbols of Christmas!

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a wonderful one, and we went over that a bit last month. Last year I shared many of our family traditions surrounding gift giving, which is also wonderfully symbolic. (Here’s the who, what, when and where, and why of that.) Hoping to keep the Spirit of Christmas in my heart year-round, each month I’m going to continue studying and researching another Christmas symbol.

I love stars. I love light. I love the idea of the wise men following the star to find Jesus, and the reminder that I need to do that each day as well. I also love that this is a year-round symbol; I love staring at the night-time stars. We live in a beautiful universe.

After many, many years of having one “hodge-podge” Christmas tree (which I absolutely love), we finally had the time, space, and money to put up a second, “themed” Christmas tree, and the theme I chose was stars, focusing on the colors gold and white. I had fun finding and making new ornaments (like the center two below, the outer two stayed on the family tree), and found the perfect gold star to add to the top. (Then, this second tree became the “Santa” tree, and the red wrapping paper kind of ruined the look I was trying to achieve, but at least that didn’t happen until Christmas Day!)

Stars are scattered in other places around our home during the Christmas season, even in our food.

Maybe the next time our grandchildren visit in December we should go on a scavenger hunt and count how many we can find.

What do you love about stars? Here are some thoughts from other people:

Elder Nelson Teaches about Symbols – At the birth of Him who is called the “bright and morning star,” (Revelation 22:16), a new star appeared in the heavens, and darkness was banished worldwide as a sign of His holy birth, He who is the “Light of the World.”

He is the Brightest Light – Far from the light and noise of the city, there were thousands of visible stars. As we approached the center of town, fewer and fewer stars were visible, until only the brightest ones could be spotted. I thought about the light of those bright stars and about Jesus Christ. . . . He is the brightest star, the shining example for all of us. And yet, . . . even He can be obscured by light pollution. The more distractions, the more artificial light, the less visible the natural light becomes.

Christmas Stars
               by Solveig Paulson Russell 

Stars in the winter sky,
Stars in the Christmas tree,
Stars in the Christmas lights
Twinkle joyously.
Stars on the paper wrappings,
Stars in the cookie dough,
Stars shaped for candles—
And stars in eyes that glow
With happy expectation
And joy that Christ’s own star
Still is a shining beacon
For glad hearts near and far.

An All-Star Christmas – Star-shaped snacks and crafts

Jesus Christ is the Son of God – Make some star ornaments

Finally, here’s another quote on the importance of remembering Christmas year-round:

Daily prayer and daily scripture study are only two tools among many that can help us to remember our Savior, which we covenant to do as we partake of the sacrament each week. As we strive to remember Jesus Christ always, we treasure the precious gift of His Atonement instead of rejecting it. May we keep our daily focus on the Savior sharp, at Christmastime and throughout the year. (Elder Terence M. Vinson)