Monday, November 29, 2010

The Jesse Tree


Good Monday morning friends!  I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!  We had a very low-key holiday which was so much of what I needed. One of my favorite parts of our long weekend was getting my Christmas decorations up. I looooooove the sights, smells and sounds of Christmas. I'll be sharing a lot about all things Christmas over the next couple of weeks, but I want to start with my favorite Christmas tradition.  

Starting December 1, we will do a family devotional each night called "The Advent Jesse Tree." The book provides devotions for December 1 - December 25, when God's purpose was finally revealed through the coming of the savior, Jesus Christ. Each devotion traces the heritage of Christ through the stories and prophesies of the Old Testament. The daily devotions are written in two versions - one for children and one for adults.  It is such wonderful way to keep the focus on Christ each day of this busy Christmas season. 

The above picture shows what you'll need - the book, some sort of tree and ornaments that coincide with each day's devotion. The ornaments are based on a symbol given each day. I just googled each symbol, printed the picture off and made the ornaments myself. My girls get to take turns hanging the ornament on the tree after each night's devotion. I will confess that last year I gave my girl's an M&M every time they got one of the questions from the devotion correct. Now, I am by no means an advocate of bribing children, but I will say when it comes to learning the truth of God's Word, I don't think a sweet incentive can cause too much harm. 

If this interests you, now is the time to start printing/drawing/making your ornaments. Can you believe December 1 is only two days away?



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