Awww...how sweet! You're back again! Hope you enjoy your visit with the Peapod Squad!
I love family traditions. I think they keep us grounded in the ideals that truly matter. This year, we began a new family tradition. A Jesse Tree. It’s a nightly devotion that connects the Biblical story from creation to the birth of Jesus. I love how it casts a bright light on the fulfillment of prophecy and the keeping of promises. So often, our children (and we adults) study scripture references out of context and never really see the big picture of how every single event in the history of God’s children was pointing toward Jesus. The Jesse Tree ties it all together in a tangible and meaningful way.
We use the devotions I found HERE (ad libbing here and there to keep it age-appropriate), though there are others online and you could easily write your own using the provided scripture references. I incorporate a bit of what I found HERE. I had grand intentions of making our ornaments using the patterns HERE, but instead…I chose to go the less-complicated route and printed THESE. If you’ve got more money than time and want some really, really nice ornaments…try THESE or THESE.
We did a VERY simple wrapping paper cut-out tree and stuck it to the side of our refrigerator (sorry about the very fuzzy photo…I’ll try again tomorrow). We read the devotions and then let the kids (rotate each night) put the ornament on the tree.
I’m sure we’ll continue to evolve this over the years…making it more meaningful as the kids get older. I can already tell it’s going to be one of my very favorite Christmas traditions for us.
What are some of your family’s traditions?
Possibly Related Posts:
- Sometimes Their Cool Tricks Really are Pretty Cool
- To-Do List Revision
- Under Seige
- A Flaky Friday in February
- And Now the Reality Sets In
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
We’re doing 2 different advent things this year:
Advent box – they open it up in the morning and it has listed an activity we will do that day. Some are family oriented, some are ideas of how to help others.
Advent link-a-doos – T made it at his school and you take off one link a day and read the bible story hidden on the inside of the link.
They’re really digging it!
p.s. i like the Jesse tree idea better than the linky thing. Maybe we’ll do that next year!
Monica – I love this & I read it just in time. We started a Jesus Tree (http://thebraggbook.blogspot.com/2009/12/our-jesus-tree.html) this year & my neighbors wanted something similar. I had hopes of ordering the Proclamation Ornaments for them, but haven’t been able to find them. This may be the perfect substitution though!