the same chipped angels year after year , and the same tinsel star on top ; the tough surviving platoon of what had once been an entire battalion of glass balls ( and we never forget the honored dead , he thought - this one died as a result of a baby 's clutching hand , this one slipped as dad was putting it on and crashed to the floor , the red one with the star of bethlehem painted on it was simply and mysteriously broken one year when we took them down from the attic , and i cried ) ; the tree stand itself .