Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Tree fairy

235 replies

MsGinaLinetti · 11/12/2025 07:33

Every year I float the idea of a Christmas fairy to top the tree. DH and DCs all claim that a star is the ornament that should be used. We have both. AIBU to think that a fairy is THE CORRECT tree topper?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
21
HHCrochetDiva · 11/12/2025 08:18

Mine’s an Angel (smaller version of the one in photos). Over the years we’ve done some interesting tree toppers for our local Xmas tree festival……in reverse order Angel, Santa Hat, Robins, Cooked Turkey, Partridge!

Tree fairy
Tree fairy
Tree fairy
Tree fairy
Tree fairy
TheGrimSmile · 11/12/2025 08:12

FuzzyPuffling · 11/12/2025 07:56

It does, but that's winter solstice, not Christmas. The clue is in the name!

Show quote history

Yes but it's all just been merged into one. The pagans really started "Christmas" - they knew we needed some kind of festival to break up the long, dark, cold winter. The religious stuff just piggy-backed onto that. The Christmas period itself is just a mish-mash of pagan rituals, the Bible story and European folklore (eg.Santa Claus) I think that's what makes it so magical.

I think when OP says fairy, it's probably an angel, but either is fine.

IsSheorIsntShe · 11/12/2025 08:09

IsSheorIsntShe · 11/12/2025 08:01

Well, OP, we did a Toy box Nativity when I was little where the kid with the best hair in our year sang a solo of "Every little girl would like to beee The fairy on a Christmas treeee"

so it's a star for me, because I was bitter about being a playing card instead.

I've just idly googled and found that the next verse starts "Every little boy has lots of fun With his trumpet and his gun"(!)

Also that it was a Gracie Fields song from 1936.

I'm not that old.

Lurkingandlearning · 11/12/2025 08:08

I’d never thought about fairy v angel before. The doll my mum made into a tree topper had a halo and a wand so a hybrid.

vomitinapintglass · 11/12/2025 08:07

My mum still has the fairy from her childhood Christmas trees in the 40s/50s. I called it an angel once and was firmly corrected. I now have a fairy for mine!

61here · 11/12/2025 08:06

We have had the same white angel on our tree for 40+ years. She really needs a good tidy up but she's too fragile to clean. She is the christmas angel watching over us each year!

Wish44 · 11/12/2025 08:06

FuzzyPuffling · 11/12/2025 07:56

It does, but that's winter solstice, not Christmas. The clue is in the name!

Show quote history

yes but Christianity tacked its major date onto an already major date ( time of year) that already had the traditions of bringing in foliage.

so the traditions have fused over the years, but foliage is older than Christianity

Ddakji · 11/12/2025 08:03

Actually, I’ve just had a proper look at mine and she’s an angel, complete with tinsel halo.

Namechangefordaughterevasion · 11/12/2025 08:03

We have an angel. A star is good too. Never, ever a fairy. You might as well have a hobbit or unicorn or some other fictional creature that is nothing to do with Christmas.

CheeseNinja · 11/12/2025 08:03

I have an angel, it’s the one my mum used to put on the tree when I was growing up.

NoMoreHotHols · 11/12/2025 08:03

None of those. I have something similar to this as it reminds me of the toppers we used back home (not UK). (Photo may be pending)

This year we’ve chosen Santa on top. It’s a hollow felt one we had since my kids were little.

Tree fairy
Boomer55 · 11/12/2025 08:03

My daughter uses a Xmas angel her nan bought in 1952 - scruffy now but she won’t use anything else 😉

Lurkingandlearning · 11/12/2025 08:02

It has to be a star for me because a fairy or an angel makes the top of the tree look too pointy.

itsmycheese · 11/12/2025 08:02

We have an angel, but I think any topper is acceptable.

Our favourite Christmas book/film is "On Christmas Eve", it's magical and features fairies guiding Father Christmas to the home of a little girl who doesn't have a chimney. Fairies will always be Christmassy to me because of that.

Ddakji · 11/12/2025 08:02

We have a fairy. DD would be outraged if she was replaced!

IsSheorIsntShe · 11/12/2025 08:01

Well, OP, we did a Toy box Nativity when I was little where the kid with the best hair in our year sang a solo of "Every little girl would like to beee The fairy on a Christmas treeee"

so it's a star for me, because I was bitter about being a playing card instead.

Wtfdoidoplease · 11/12/2025 08:01

Fairy all the way!
Seems like it’s a very Victorian-midcentury UK thing to have a fairy (often a repurposed doll). Ours is a doll of my mum’s from the 1950s. Sad people are forgetting the old ways 😂

Londonrach1 · 11/12/2025 07:58

It's a star or an angel. No way a fairy. I'd vote star as that's the most traditional one

WarrenTofficier · 11/12/2025 07:56

I'm probably not very helpful as we have a polar bear at the top of ours.

FuzzyPuffling · 11/12/2025 07:56

Wish44 · 11/12/2025 07:51

Fairy!!!!

she brings the Christmas magic.

bringing winter foliage in for solstice predates Christianity surely!

It does, but that's winter solstice, not Christmas. The clue is in the name!

user1476613140 · 11/12/2025 07:55

Star.

CrowsInMyGarden · 11/12/2025 07:53

My tree is a forest/nature theme so I have a large red squirrel topping mine.

sesquipedalian · 11/12/2025 07:53

Is she really a fairy, or is she actually an angel? I have the Angel from my mother’s tree - she has suffered somewhat with the years, and has been mended by DH (head broke a bit when she fell off the tree one year) but she has to be there, presiding over the festivities.

Original poster
MsGinaLinetti · 11/12/2025 07:52

Yes @Wish44

OP posts:
Myfridgeiscool · 11/12/2025 07:52

I’ve got a fairy that goes on top of the tree. Got it in Woolworths in about 1979.
I got it for being brave for a hospital visit.
No star in this house!