Jesse Tree

Isaiah 1:1-2 promises:
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD—

The sweetest of all Christmas traditions, and the most important holiday activity that we did in December, was our Jesse tree. 

 

We started with a few homemade ornaments a few years ago,

then really kicked up our ornaments last year when I attended two Jesse tree ornament parties.  Now we have a combined set of ornaments that are family keepsakes made by people very special to us.  I intended to host a party this year to pass along the tradition, but forgot until it was too late.  I promise to host one in 2013! 

 

We do our own little version, putting all the ornaments on at once, then picking one off each night.  We then read the Bible story from a children's Bible.  The girls took turns placing the ornaments on the tree, and sharing about all the other stories they could remember. 

Such a special Advent activity to focus Christmas on the coming of a savior. 

This year, we added a sweet element.  Each story was illustrated and written about in our homemade Jesse tree book.  Some of the most notable entries was (topless) Eve taking an apple from the serpent and the poor animal being sacrificed by Abraham (check out the knife).  Can't wait to pull this out next year and smile!