Christmas Tree Stars

Today my host parents took down the Christmas tree. They put it up on Christmas Eve..and take it down a week later because they don't water it so its shedding needles pretty badly after a week or so. I asked them why they put a bell in top of the Christmas tree instead of a star or an angel (like we do in the US). My host dad told me that it was a psychological thing because to them stars signify the hammer and sickle (the flag of the USSR). So putting a bell on top of their tree was a way of getting away from Moscow during soviet times...sort of a silent revolt against soviet ideals.