Skip to main content

the Jesse tree

A college friend of mine just published in her missionary update that they have passed out all the kits for the Jesse tree to the families who come to their outreach center. Curious, I pressed her for more information and here's the basics:

Using the premise of the advent calendar, the Jesse tree promotes ways for parents to teach their children how Christmas is a fulfillment of Messianic prophecies, starting with December 1. Each night there is a Scripture passage and the family can make or color an ornament that goes with the story. There are paper patterns in a .pdf format that parents can print out, but my favorite picture is below, where the family actually made the ornaments.And here's a sample of the Jesse tree done with paper and paper ornaments:

AND, there's also a book, published in 2005 that details the whole concept in a story form:
If I had children, I think this would be an awesome way to teach the fulfilled Messianic prophecies of Christmas. Here is a link to the devotion schedule for the Jesse Tree, as well as a more detailed explanation: http://www.jesse-tree.com/jesse_tree.html If you choose to do this with your family, let me know if you post pictures and I'll mention you on my blog!

Comments

Lydia said…
oooo....another "Christmas" book to add to my list:) We have our own advent calendar but I like this. Maybe next year when I have more time and hopefully more space...we'll see:)

Popular posts from this blog

things we do for love

Saturday we had a baby shower for Bobby's niece. As I was making the mints, Bobby asked what else was on the menu. After I recited off the litany of items, he responded with "No peanut butter?! This shower is for Hannah! What's she going to eat?" (Hannah has had stomach problems over the years and has been unable to tolerate many foods, but peanut butter has been her staple.) Despite my assurances that she would enjoy the foods we were having, he was adamant that I needed to make peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for the shower. Even though I protested that NOBODY took that to a shower, he persisted, and informed me I could make them dainty with my little cutter. And so I did. To my surprise all but 3 were eaten. Who'd a thunk it?

get your house in order

My grandmothers were very clean people. My mother thoroughly enjoys cleaning, though she doesn't quite hit the same level my grandmothers were on. I don't enjoy cleaning, but I do like things to be clean. I've almost given up on neatness. One thing that they all instilled in me is the crazy concept that your house must be in order before you go somewhere big - like a vacation or something. After all, you could die in a car crash or have to go to the hospital, and then people would go into your house and find it in a terrible mess. Who wants to be remembered by that? So up until this past year, I would sometimes be up almost all night not only trying to get things packed up, but also trying to totally clean house as well. Or should I say, make the house presentable? The Chinese had a horrible superstition that my mother and grandparents would have enjoyed. Spring Festival (the Chinese New Year based on the lunar calendar) required EVERYTHING to be cleaned top to

Wait...it's almost March?!?

 10 more months 'til Christmas. This last month has been an absolute blur. Cleaning at Mrs. Bryan's house, cleaning at our house, lots of thinking and brainstorming and rearranging, appointments upon appointments, sinus infection/allergies, Bobby's surgery, meeting with surgeon and finally agreeing to future outpatient surgery for me, ongoing updates from my parents, garden tilled and snow peas, potatoes and beets planted (and yes I left several rows empty between the potatoes and beets for something else to go later as a buffer), chickens are laying, we may have a broody hen..in FEBRUARY!!!, we have two roosters that need to disappear, lots of family have been in from out of town to assist with the sorting and cleaning at Mrs. Bryan's house, and somewhere in the midst of it all I've found time to pay bills and catch up on a few emails. While I no longer feel like our house is a disaster zone, it is still overwhelming. Years ago a friend posted a quote by Martin Lut