Over here ;-) (I'm German) in my childhood there always was a star on top of the Christmas tree.

The fairy seems to be an English tradition as can been seen in Fairy on the Tree:

"What will top your tree this year? Will you opt for an English traditional fairy, a continental angel, or play safe and affix a star?

Nowadays, it seems almost impossible to buy a tree-topper fairy doll - Christmas stores are full of angels. Where have the wand-waving fairies disappeared too? Fifty years ago, it was a different story. Christmas trees, their pine fragrance filling the living rooms, would invariably have a fairy doll sitting proudly on top of the tree. Sometimes, the fairy would be wrapped away on Twelfth Night, to be brought out again for the next Christmas, but often she would be given to a little girl, who would treasure the doll till her wings fell off and her paper skirt crumbled."