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!

Refocusing Christmas: Our Jesse Tree

The Jesse Tree is an Advent activity that our family started two years ago to refocus our Christmas.  We started with a combination of about fifteen homemade and store bought ornaments that you can see here. 

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—

Every night, we add a new ornament to a little table top tree and read the corresponding scripture, explaining the story behind it in kid friendly terms.  Each ornament represents a story from creation to the nativity. 

Though our girls are very young, they have LOVED our Jesse Tree.  It is our favorite Christmas tradition in a month filled with holiday fun.  Throughout the month that the tree is up, we'll find them pointing out their favorite ornaments and retelling their understanding of the scripture. 

Our hope is that this will help hide God's word (His story)in their hearts, and that it is a tradition that will be passed on to their children. 

In early November of this year, I was invited two Jesse Tree parties!  Though we already had ornaments that are family keepsakes, I jumped at the opportunity to complete our set and to have a set to give away. 

The hosts, Emily and Marci, each invited 27 people to participate.  At our first gatherings, we read through the list of devotionals and all got assignments.  We then went home, and made 27
(or in my crazy case, 3x27) of that same ornament.  A few weeks later, we got together to exchange, all taking home complete sets of 27 ornaments!

We blogged about our Jesse Tree, and that post has received more hits than almost any other.   I'd love to share with you the ornaments that I received.  I have two different sets of each ornament, plus those that my family made, for a total of three!   Hopefully, my crafty friends won't mind my sharing, in the hopes that somebody will make one for their family!

November 29: Stump of Jesse, Isaiah 11:1-2
November 30: Creation, Genesis 1:24-31

December 1: Adam&Eve, Genesis 3:1-21

(The 2nd ornament is a sheep skin that can be flipped over to represent Adam and Eve's need to cover their sin.)

December 2: Noah's Ark, Genesis 6:5-8

December 3: Abraham & Sarah, Genesis 12:1-7
December 4: Baby Isaac, Genesis 21:1-7
December 5: Abraham's Sacrifice (ram), Genesis 22:1-14

December 6: Jacob's Ladder, Genesis 28:10-22
December 7: Joseph's Coat of Many Colors, Genesis 37:31-33
December 8: Ten Commandments, Deuteronomy 5:1-22

December 9: Ruth, Ruth 1:1-23
December 10: Scarlet Chord/Rope, Joshua 2:2-21
December 12 (sorry, photos out of order):
King David, 2 Samuel 5:1-5

December 11: Horn of Oil/The Lord Looks on the Heart, 1 Sam 16:1-13

December 13: People once lived in darkness, now have seen a great light.  Isaiah 9:2, 6-7
December 14: Fire of God, 1 King 18-17-39

December 15: Lion/Lamb (both are reversible), Isaiah 11:1-9

December 16: "Big Fish", Jonah 3:1-4 (One of my 3!!)
December 17: Bethlehem, Micah 5:2-5
December 18: Esther "Coming to the King" (scepter and grapes from feasts), Esther 4:10-17

December 19: Watch Tower, Habakkuk 2:1
December 20: Birth of John the Baptist, Luke 1;5-25

December 21: Baptism/Jordan River, Matthew 3:1-6
December 22: God's Heart, Our Dwelling Place (Mary's Heart),
Luke 1:26-38 (wooden one is mine!)

December 23: Joseph the Builder, Matthew 1:18-25
(jar has sawdust and nails, other is a handmade wooden tool)

December 24: Journey to Bethlehem/to Jesus, Luke 2:1-5
(Felt sandals are mine!  LOVE the other one though, made of felt with a tiny star attached.)
December 25: Birth of Jesus, Luke 2:6-21

We LOVE all of our new ornaments, and can't wait to add them to our much loved family Jesse Tree.  MANY thanks to Emily and Marci, for their amazing hearts, and foe hosting these parties!

These are based on the Jesse Tree devotionals written by Ann Voskamp, which can be downloaded here.   Because our girls are little though, we just read the stories from our children's Bible. 

May your Advent be blessed, and focused on the birth of Jesus!

Jesse Tree is Complete!

Our Jesse Tree is finally complete and ready for the start of Advent! We got seriously crafty and sewed and painted our final ornaments over Thanksgiving. What is a Jesse Tree you ask? It is an Advent celebration involving daily devotionals. Each day, we will read a Bible story and add an ornament to our tree. The idea is based on the verse:

"A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit."
Isaiah 11:1

You can find lists of devotionals here or here. In order to be most kid-friendly, we used these lists to compile our own. Each story is taken from the Old Testament, and leads up to the birth of Christ.

Noah's Ark
Mary's Heart
Ruth's Wheat
Jacob's Ladder
Lion: Daniel in the Lion's Den
Watchtower: Waiting for Jesus
Angel
Sheep
Magi's Crown
Joseph's Hammer
Passover: Door with Blood
Donkey (er...kind of...) to carry Mary and Joseph
Nativity: Birth of Christ
10 Commandments
Dove: Creation
Cross: To start Advent

Joseph's Coat of Many Colors
Jonah and the Whale
Earth: Creation
Apple: Adam and Eve

We'll be using these two books for the stories each night. We hope this will be a tradition that our children will learn from, and that this will be a treasured family tradition. Mainly, we hope that this will teach them that Christmas is far greater than Santa and new toys.

I first heard about the Jesse Tree on this Rocks in My Dryer post, and have wanted to do one ever since. Another inspiration was from the Holy Experience. Most of my inspiration though came from one of my new favorite blogs, The Domestic Notebook. Many of our ornaments are total (far less perfect) knock-offs from her blog. Many thanks to these three bloggers for sharing their ideas and ornaments.