Many Christian families are feeling more disgusted with the over-commercialization of the Christmas holiday. Santa used to give you a paddle ball and some blocks. Now Santa can afford $200 Lego sets, a cell phone, and an NSA elf to spy on your children for 25 days before Christmas. Many religious families are trying to get back to the inherent meaning of the season, which, as my daughter’s Our Life in the Church textbook said that this was a time to “meditate on both past and future events.”
We should celebrate the first coming of Christ with joy, but also practice some penance, in preparation of the second coming of Christ. Advent and Christmastide
Most varieties of Christians have jumped “on board” with an advent calendar. An advent calendar usually involves little treats or trinkets every day, which helps the child to grow in anticipation for Christmas. Another
What’s A Jesse Tree
A Jesse Tree is based on the genealogy of Jesus. Isaiah 11:1-2 says, “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord” The Jesse Tree celebrates the handiwork of God. It gives us a time of reflection on all of the people and events that led to the birth of Jesus Christ.
We have the book Unwrapping the Greatest Gift: A Family Celebration of Christmas by Ann Voskamp. My children love the daily stories. We eat breakfast, and while I enjoy my coffee, I read to them the daily Bible verse and we talk about the discussion questions. While Ann does sometimes get a little “wordy” in her explanations, I think the pictures and how quickly we can pull it out and read it make up for that fact.
We did not want to do paper ornaments again this year because I wasn’t thrilled with how they looked. I wanted my ornaments to not only look
Jen is the owner of Faith and Fabric Designs, and I adore her book. While I did need to watch a YouTube video with my daughter to show her how to do the stitches, I would say that Jen’s instructions in the book were very easy to follow.
Definitely look in the book and gather all your materials before you begin. I would also make one or two before the beginning of December so that you know that each ornament will be done in time.
We’ve only made two ornaments so far, but we are going to make more tomorrow!
If I haven’t sold you on doing this; yet, what if I told you this involves a trip to Target? Oh yeah, now we’re talking!
We have babies running around and limited floor space, so we got the Wondershop Hanging Wall Twig Tree to hang the ornaments on this year and I
It’s not too late to get started with the fun family tradition of doing a Jesse Tree and making your own ornaments with Our Family’s Jesse Tree. Grab a copy on Amazon right now!
BONUS Fun Family Tradition : Hymn Singing!
We study and sing the devotion: Sing His Birth from the blog clarescontemplations.com The best part is, is that the first hymn is O Come, O Come Emmanuel, and one of the questions is, ” 4. The song mentions both the “Rod of Jesse” and the “Root of Jesse”. That speaks of King David’s father. Why would this lineage be important to the Israelites?” This is going to fit so well with our Jesse Tree!
