Christmas Traditions: A Jesse Tree

Our Christmas traditions center on celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.  Last year, we asked our 4th - 6th grade Sunday School class about their special family traditions.  One of the boys told us about the Jesse tree, and we quickly adopted this tradition as our own.  Basically, a Jesse tree calendars the coming of Christ, from the beginning of creation to his birth!  There are lots of ways to implement the Jesse Tree, but this is the Mobley version!

First I made this tree out of felt.  I'm sure many of you could whip this out in no time, but I am neither crafty nor very good at sewing, so this took me quite a bit of time and determination.  Plus, it always takes me a good bit of time to remember how to thread my machine!  I found some devotional materials online.  Each day in December leading up to Christmas, we read a portion of Scripture and made a corresponding felt ornament.  I used velcro to attach the ornaments to the tree.  I wasn't entirely happy with the particular devotional material we used last year, so I am "branching out" this year.  I was able to obtain the Kindle-version of The Advent Jesse Tree by Dean Lambert for free. This book includes both children's and adult's devotions, memory verses, suggested ornaments, review questions and a prayer.

The girls really love this family tradition and look forward to attaching an ornament to the tree every day.  I'll post a picture of this year's completed Jesse Tree sometime after Christmas.  Next year, I have big plans to go one step further and wrap the ornaments for the kids to open each day.