What is a Jesse tree? Simply a small tree with daily ornaments that depict Old Testament stories foretelling Jesus' birth.
It's been fun and enlightening to learn alongside the kids about God's promises to provide a Messiah. Each day I have Chloe color, glue to cardstock and then cut out her ornament. Then I hole-punch it, attach a hook and put it on our tree. Lastly, we read the coordinating devotional for the day.
The devotional by Ann Voskamp is FANTASTIC. At first I thought it would be too abstract for the kids but I abridge it slightly and do some additional explaining in my own words. What I especially love about the devotional is that the main text is from the actual Bible. So often kids' Bible stuff is paraphrased or watered down. Ann's Bible excerpts are from a completely understandable and clear version (NCV and NIV) for kids.
To get a free pdf copy of the Jesse Tree Advent Devotional, follow instructions on Ann's blog. (You'll have to subscribe to her blog to get the free download link.)
Does your family do a Jesse Tree? Or an advent calendar? How to you count down to Christmas?
3 comments:
I definitely want to do this for our family. I was excited when I saw ann's free book. I'll probably pick up a little tree at the after Christmas sales and we'll start doing this next year.
Good plan, Amanda! That's wise of you to wait until Brooke is a bit older. It's been a perfect fit for Chloe (5 yrs. old) but a little much for Clive. He still gets the stories though so that's been fun.
What a great idea! I'd heard of the Jesse Tree but I didn't really know what it was.
Maybe something we can use in the future!
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