The Advent Jesse Tree

I love adding a new tradition to our family's Christmas celebration. A couple other ladies and I decided to plan an Advent Jesse Tree ornament swap in order to bring this book into all of our homes. I am so thrilled with how it turned out.

A little background:  The Advent Jesse Tree is a devotional book that traces God's plan for redemption and the lineage of Christ from creation all the way to the birth of Christ.  It has parallel lessons each day - a kid version and an adult version.  I think it is such a logical, historical and interesting way to celebrate Advent.  The book has a symbol to correspond with each day's Bible story, and they encourage you to have ornaments to hang on a small tree as a part of each day's lesson.

Rather than make all 25 days myself, I started recruiting women in our Sunday School class to do this together.  It was way more cost-effective (and way more fun to see what everyone came up with!) to build these collections together.  We began sign-ups in September and I hosted our swap the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

I had Day 1 (the earth) and Day 19 (a silhouette of Bethlehem) and these are the ornaments I came up with:

I think I spent a total of $10 on all of my ornaments. The day of the swap was so much fun. We had the list of which day each person had, and then everyone put their ornaments on my dining room table.

I was blown away by how creative these girls got with their ornaments!  I got such a wonderful assortment, and they all did such a great job.  Caroline and her husband CARVED their slingshots out of plywood.  Susan took on the "stump with a fresh shoot or leaf coming out of it" by using a cinnamon stick, a fake leaf and floral tape to make a perfect symbol for day 13.  Bethany's interpretation of a "lion and a lamb" for day 14 was great - a double-sided ornament.  Jen's day 25 baby Jesus made of king cake babies and home-made mangers...priceless.  I could go on and on, they were all so wonderful, and I know this set will be a treasure in our home for years to come!

I love having our little tree at the kitchen table. It goes perfectly on the placemat Erin made for our table at the HFBC Women's Christmas Banquet.

Madeleine has enjoyed it too!