Good Bye Star

The day/weekend after Thanksgiving is the time that our family decorates for the holidays.  My son is of the age where he is still really into it and he likes to decorate his room too.  To that end, I took him to And That! By Christmas Tree Shops and let him pick out a few things which I paid for as a pre-Christmas present.  It's actually quite tasteful (for a tween boy).


One of the things I put in his room, even before he decorated, was a light up star that I pinned onto his bulletin board and then plugged in.  It lit up and I walked away.  It was blinking and twinkling as it always had; when I bought it back in the late 1970s (or so I am guessing...it could have possibly been the very early 80s, but I'm pretty sure 1978 or 1979.)

I can remember buying it; though I'm not sure why I did.  Maybe it was my new found "freedom" of walking downtown to middle school and being able to make purchases on my walk home.  Upon reflection they were mostly senseless and useless items that found their way home with me.  The star is the perfect example of just that.

I bought it at a corner store/luncheonette.  One of those places that had useless stuff that was often irresistible to kids.  Remembering it, even when I bought it, it must have spent several years on the shelf.  On a good day it is ostentatious.  On a bad day it is butt ugly.  It definitely did not fit into my family's decor.  My family's living room was definitely on the "classic" side whereas the star screamed out (dare I say it?):  Trailer Trash.  I must have known when I bought it (and it cost under $2) that it wouldn't fit in.  But I purchased it any way (typical kid right?)

It was designed so that it could be placed on top of the tree.  That wasn't going to happen.  I wanted to hang it in the front window and plug it in.  I don't think that happened either.  (Can't blame mom for that one.)  I may have hung it in my room and let it blink in all its glory.

After the holiday it migrated with all the rest of the ornaments and decoration to a box in the attic.  I don't think it ever came out again.  I knew it was there, but it just stayed in its box.

That was until relatively recently...and by relatively I mean within the past 10.  (Hey, I'm old!)  Since my parents no longer put up a big tree, I raided some of the "holiday stash" in the attic.  The star came with me.  But I don't think I used it until a few years ago when I put it in my son's room as he loved (and still loves) holiday lights.

So this year was no different.  I tacked it to his bulletin board, plugged it in and walked away.  A day or two later I walked in and noticed it wasn't on.  I assumed it wasn't plugged in, but my son said it didn't work anymore.  I double checked, hoping that he was wrong and that he just hadn't plugged it back in correctly.  Nope.  I even took it to another outlet in a different room.  No dice.

The star is dead.  Although I suppose there is a possibility that one of the bulbs is bad and that is why it no longer works.  But I don't have any replacements.

It's been sitting in the office.  I've been unable/unwilling to just toss it as I should.  I'm not sure why.  As I said, it's pretty tacky, but it's got its hold on me and for some reason I just cannot bring myself to pick it up and toss it in the trash...at least not yet.  Maybe once the New Year has arrived and we go about cleaning up the holiday clutter.  Maybe then.  Or maybe not...Maybe I will pack it up back into its box and leave it on a shelf in the basement just because that's what I need to do.  Maybe.







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