Looking ahead to next year Christmas, here’s a craft project that all you moms can start on now and maybe have for advent 2010! This is the Jesse Tree, a Christmas advent calendar tracing Jesus’ earthly heritage (recorded in Matthew and Luke). From Isaiah 11:1 “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,” this family tree advent calendar represents the ancestors of Christ and the patriarchs and prophets God used to keep the promise alive. The suggested people on the tree are: Adam & Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, Judah, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Ruth, Jesse, David, Isaiah, Daniel, Esther, Joseph, Manger Scene, Risen Christ. (Contact me if you want the Scriptures that accompany the list, and the ideas of symbols you can use to represent each person).

The Jesse Tree was a very special tradition in my family growing up. One of my best Christmas memories throughout my life is putting JESUS! on top of the Jesse Tree on Christmas morning! And I was really shocked at how well Geneva did with it this year. We would read the corresponding Bible story every morning and then add the symbol to the tree and after a week or so she was going over to the tree saying “this one is Adam and Eve, this one is Noah, this one is Abraham, etc. etc.” SO cool. And it REALLY helped her understand that when we put JESUS on the top of the Jesse Tree it was finally His birthday!

My mother made the one pictured here, which is the same one we still use today. You can make it too! She used two pieces of burlap with batting in the middle, finished with a woven red ribbon. She embroidered (using the sewing machine) the front piece of the burlap with red thread to make a family tree. She sewed and glued one side of the velcro to the tree and hot glued the other to the symbols and voila! EASY project and SO special. If you are here in the Springs, I’d love to get together and do a Jesse Tree workshop sometime! Let me know!