Jesse Tree Update

A few weeks ago I wrote about how we wanted to start a new Christmas tradition this year by doing nightly Jesse Tree devotions. Because the ornaments I wanted were pricey, I decided to make my own. So, I enlisted Jen and Erin to join me. We gathered one day while the older kids were in MDO, hired a sitter for the younger kids and went to a coffee shop to craft. We had precut the green felt circles and we would each make three of each ornament. At the end of the day we had completed almost all of the ornaments. We each took home a set to embellish later with embroidery, beads or whatever we had.

Starting December 1 we have done a nightly devotional. There were several different versions of the Jesse Tree so we chose the symbols and stories that we thought would be easiest for our children to understand. Ever night we read a story from one of our children's Bibles. We have 4 Bibles that we read from plus a Jesse Tree devotion. By reading from a children's Bible, the stories are shorter and written in a language that Katherine understands. Plus there are illustrations for her to look at as we read the story. The draw back is that not every Bible includes every story, hence the four Bibles.

The Bibles that we use are The Toddler Bible which is very short, basic stories. This was Katherine's first Bible and I had not planned to use it because they are so short but she went to get it out of her room to read one night. My favorite is The Big Picture Story Bible. It shares the Bible as a narrative that points to Christ which is the point of the Jesse Tree. I love how it is written. It does not have every story though. I also like the Rhyme Bible which we have had on our shelf for a long time but had not really read much. Each story is a long poem. The last Bible we are using is The Bible for Children. I just went to 1/2 price to find any good story Bible to fill in the gaps left by the other Bibles. It has every story but it is written at a higher level than we are right now.

We have our special Jesse Tree set up in the living room so we do our nightly devotions in there. The rule is that Katherine has to get ready for bed first. She is excited about our Bible story so this usually helps her to get ready for bed faster. We are planning to use the Jesse Tree devotions as a way to establish a better ritual for doing a family Bible time each night.
I don't want to paint a perfect picture of our devotion times. They can be a challenge. Katherine loves to read but for some reason she really has a hard time sitting still. She is distracted by the tree and the ornament as well as the fact that our harpsichord is right there and so she wants to sing a song.

After we read the Bible story Katherine gets to hang her ornament on the tree. Every night her goal is to hang the ornament as high as possible.

We are 10 days into it and you can see what our tree looks like so far.
And here are some close ups of some of our ornaments. Some of them are not 100% finished. I had great intentions of spending time each night by the fire embroidering the finishing touches but life is just too busy.

Creation
Adam and Eve and The FallNoah's Ark and the FloodAbraham's tent and a promise of a nationThe sacrifice of Isaac and God's providing of a ram

Jacob's Ladder

Moses and the burning bush

The passover lamb - Katherine was really interested in this story because twice it talked about blood. We talked about the plagues and then about the passover when they put blood on the doorposts. I am not sure why she was so interested in that detail but she keeps asking about the blood.

The 10 commandments and God's lawRahab

Doing our Jesse Tree has been a special time. I really look forward to this becoming a yearly tradition as well as it transitioning into a nightly Bible time.

I have had several other friends start a Jesse Tree this year as well. Melissa and Julie made ornaments by gluing these pages onto wooden disks and then using Modge Podge to seal them. They look really nice. Chrys and her extended family made ornaments that are all different over the holidays. She has done a wonderful job of writing nightly about their devotion. If you have not started the Jesse Tree this year, it is still easy to do. You can even just print off these pictures to have your kids color each night.

Jesse Tree

I am really looking forward to Christmas this year. Katherine is at a really fun age where I know she will enjoy all of the festivities. Last year she enjoyed it but this year I think she can really start to understand it. So, I really want to start some meaningful family traditions at this time of year that can not only be fun but also teach the kids about the true meaning of Christmas. One thing I really want to do is a Jesse Tree. I had never heard of a Jesse Tree until last year when I read about it on a few blogs. This year I have seen even more about it.

What is a Jesse Tree? It is a small tree that is used during the Advent season. Biblical symbols that tell of God's redemptive plan are placed on the tree each night during a family devotional time. The ornaments and devotions of the Jesse Tree reveal the powerful message that the history of the Old Testament sets the stage for Christ's birth.

The idea for this "family tree" comes from Isaiah's prophecy:

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

The overwhelming part of the Jesse Tree is assembling and collecting all of the ornaments. You can buy ornaments already made but they are not cheap. I found a cute felt kit here that is reasonably priced. Some people shop the after Christmas sales to find ornaments for each day but that does not help me for this year. I have found a lot of examples online and plan to make my own set. I thought it would be fun for several friends who are interested in making Jesse Tree ornaments out of felt to gather one Saturday and help one another out by making them (or at least cutting out all the parts) in an assembly line. If you are interested, let me know. Another idea is to do a Jesse Tree ornament swap where each of us is assigned a symbol and makes multiple ornaments to swap. If I make my own, I plan to copy the ones found here, in felt. But if I don't finish them, I will probably make the remaining ones out of construction paper or other craft materials or even just print off these or these.

Chrys also just posted about the Jesse Tree and she has a lot of great pictures of different types of Jesse Trees. Check out her post.

Jesse Tree Resources
Devotionals for younger families - This uses two toddler Bibles for the readings and I think would be easier at Katherine's age to sit through.
Making a Jesse Tree
The Remembering Tree
History, How to Make and Scripture Readings
Reformed Church of America Devotional
Examples and Patterns from Domestic Church
An e-book of devotions you can purchase
Printable ornaments
Jesse Tree and Advent
Ornaments made from sculpey