What a wonderful year our church family experienced in 2006! The First Presbyterian Church on Maurice River, in Millville, New Jersey was delighted to have a change in Christmas tradition including the making of 2,337 white Moravian paper stars in three sizes to adorn our 15 foot sanctuary Christmas tree! Of those made, a total of 1,509 were used to decorate the tree with all sizes hung at random, giving the appearance of snow dripping from the tree when viewed from a distance! A total of 34 people were involved in volunteering over a 10 month period to learn and fold these fantastic stars.

The view when standing close up and looking within the star-enclustered tree is so serene and calming! The first Sunday the congregation saw the tree was pretty amazing: tears came to the eyes of some, we received comments that it was breathtaking, many said they'd never seen anything like it, and many didn't even know what to say! This has been one of the most rewarding experiences for us! We even got to know many of our members better! It was wonderful!

The balance of the stars were made available as a fund-raiser and were sold in zip locks six to a package of any of the three sizes for five dollars a bag. On the very first day of Advent following the worship service over two hundred dollars of bagged stars were sold. Everyone was thrilled to take some home and pass them on to friends and family as gifts!

Comments included; "it looks like a fairy-land", "look it is snowing in here", "never have I seen anything like it", "wow!", "it is just so beautiful", "it gives me peace to see it up close" and many many more!

Using 3/16th inch wide strips I have been making earrings, and have made since October 2006 well over a 100 pair of earrings and donated 100% of the money to the church. I am still making them and can barely keep up with the demand!