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 power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD--and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. Isaiah 11:1-4 (NIV)
A branch is a sign of new life and new beginnings. Jesus was a decedent of King David and Christians believe that Jesus is this new branch. Hence the Jesse Tree.
I have had several friends start and share their Jesse Tree traditions over the past few years, so that is how I first learned about it. I found the sweetest handmade ornament set on Etsy and purchased it 2 Christmas seasons ago and because it was on back-order and didn't arrive until January last year, but started our tradition this year. I bought a fun, silver, skinny tinsel tree on clearance last season and we set it up in the corner of our den. I loved having a tree in the den since our main tree is in the dining room. Our ornaments fit perfectly inside the Advent calendar we already had (along with 2 Hershey kisses) and each night after dinner, we would pull the ornament and the kisses. Our ornament set also came with a little devotional book with the recommended verses for the story. Our kids are so litttle that we mostly skipped reading the actually verse, but opted to read the summary instead. There are some discussion questions, too, that sometimes were over their head. I like that this tradition is scale-able for when they get older.
I'm not gonna lie...committing to doing the Jesse Tree each night was a commitment. I think next year we will start before December 1, so if we get a little behind, we don't have to double up. It was also hard to sometimes get the kids to listen and participate, so I'm not sure they actually got it, but I figure they will eventfully. (And the candy was totally for bribery! HA!) There was also fighting over who got to put the ornament on the tree so we had to switch off. All in all, it is a sweet, new tradition that we enjoyed beginning this year.
In other non-Christ focused news, our elf Griswold is back this year, too, just to keep the magic and fun alive in the house. He set up and rode in our of Polar Express train that goes around our tree! The kids have both loved waking up to see where he is each morning!
I have had several friends start and share their Jesse Tree traditions over the past few years, so that is how I first learned about it. I found the sweetest handmade ornament set on Etsy and purchased it 2 Christmas seasons ago and because it was on back-order and didn't arrive until January last year, but started our tradition this year. I bought a fun, silver, skinny tinsel tree on clearance last season and we set it up in the corner of our den. I loved having a tree in the den since our main tree is in the dining room. Our ornaments fit perfectly inside the Advent calendar we already had (along with 2 Hershey kisses) and each night after dinner, we would pull the ornament and the kisses. Our ornament set also came with a little devotional book with the recommended verses for the story. Our kids are so litttle that we mostly skipped reading the actually verse, but opted to read the summary instead. There are some discussion questions, too, that sometimes were over their head. I like that this tradition is scale-able for when they get older.
I'm not gonna lie...committing to doing the Jesse Tree each night was a commitment. I think next year we will start before December 1, so if we get a little behind, we don't have to double up. It was also hard to sometimes get the kids to listen and participate, so I'm not sure they actually got it, but I figure they will eventfully. (And the candy was totally for bribery! HA!) There was also fighting over who got to put the ornament on the tree so we had to switch off. All in all, it is a sweet, new tradition that we enjoyed beginning this year.
In other non-Christ focused news, our elf Griswold is back this year, too, just to keep the magic and fun alive in the house. He set up and rode in our of Polar Express train that goes around our tree! The kids have both loved waking up to see where he is each morning!
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