A Bonanza of Jesse Tree Options

I really love the whole concept of The Jesse Tree.

The Jesse Tree has its roots in the following scripture...

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. Isaiah 1:1

The Jesse Tree represents the family tree of Jesus and tells the entire story of God's salvation plan, beginning with creation and making its way through the Old Testament, showing how it all points to the coming of the Messiah. Reviewing this plan reminds us of how the Israelites waited for the birth of Jesus, and how we wait for His second coming today.

I wanted to post several Jesse Tree options for those of you who are looking to do this with your family. None of them are exactly alike. Some are geared towards adults, some towards kids. Some start on December 1st, some the 1st Sunday of Advent, some November 29th.

Remember, perfection is not what's required here. You can make your own ornaments to hang on a Jesse Tree, you can buy some ready made for you from Etsy, you can make simple print, cut and colour ornaments. Or you don't even have to do the ornaments at all. Obviously the devotions themselves, talking with your kids and focusing on Jesus, is the most important aspect of it all. The ornaments do add that extra dimension, and kids love them - but they are not required. Don't fall for the "if I can't do it perfectly, I'm not doing it all" mentality. Anything is better than nothing!

That being said, here is a list of the ones I've found. I hope you can find something suitable for your family!

1) A Jesus Advent Celebration from Ann Voskamp - this free download contains everything you need for your first Jesse Tree. Each day contains a scripture reading, a devotional, a prayer and an idea of something to do to apply the day's truth to our lives. This download also contains every single ornament you need - just print it out, attach it to card stock, punch holes, glue a ribbon"hook" on and you're all set! Or you could literally just print/cut them out and tape them onto a paper tree. Can't get much simpler than that! I do really love this devotional, but wish it was a bit more child friendly with simpler wording - I'm just not a huge fan of her style of writing. But this is definitely a great all-in-one package, and it's free! This is the one we're currently using - but I'm substituting stories from our Jesus Storybook Bible and The Big Picture Story Bible

Updated: It appears this is no longer being offered and that she has created a book called Unwrapping the Greatest Gift which you can purchase, and the ornaments are free.

2) Truth in the Tinsel is the ebook I reviewed the other day (congratulations again to Pam, Meg and Cynthia on winning the giveaway, and thanks Amanda for your generosity!). It sells for only $4.99 and is a perfect Jesse Tree style devotional to do with the preschool through early elementary set. It focuses more on the actual Christmas story, and not as much on the OT history. But I love that it is so flexible, that it's geared to littles, and that the ornaments are a part of the whole thing, so you don't have to do it ahead of time, but you do it together.

Updated to add: They now have printable ornaments!  If you were hesitating because you aren't crafty (me!) this is perfect for you.  You can use printable ornaments when you don't have time for the crafts, or simply use them for every day - up to you!

3) Advent Meditations by Grace Bible Church of Hollister: what I love about this free download is that this "book" actually contains 2 sets of Advent readings - one for kids and one for older children (teens) and adults. The adult devotional begins with a short devotional style summary of the day's truth, followed by scripture. Then at the bottom of the page it references which story from the Jesus Storybook Bible you are to read for the children's readings. The cons to this one is that no ornaments are included, and if you don't have the Jesus Storybook Bible you won't be able to do it with your kids.

4) Jesse Tree Family Devotions from the Reformed Church in America: This is a fantastic free resource for younger kids! Each day includes the scripture reference (you need to look it up and read it from your Bible), a devotional reading geared towards young children, a simple question to talk about what was just read, a pray and a black and white image that you can print, colour and turn into an ornament. The images aren't as beautiful as the Ann Voskamp ones, but they'll do!

5) Advent Devotional by Christ the King Presbyterian Church: this free resource is geared more towards a family worship style experience. Each individual devotion contains a scripture passage, a brief reflection style devotional on that passage, both an adult and a child's prayer, as well as hymn to sing together. There are no ornaments provided in this devotional.

6) Advent Jesse Tree Daily Devotions: This includes both an OT and NT scripture reference, a short devotional and a prayer/thanks. No ornaments are included, though ideas are given.

7) Jesse Tree Advent Reading Meditations from This Classical Life: Each day includes the theme, a scripture reference, an ornament idea, a short devotional followed by a couple of questions and a prayer. There are enough readings for the longest advent seasons, so during shorter advent seasons you have to double up or skip some.

8) Jesse Tree Parent Devotions: these online devotions are specifically for parents. They have had ornament sets and child devotional books for sale previously, but they're all sold out. Excellent resource if you're looking for something more in-depth for your own devotions this advent season.

9) Advent Reflections for the Jesse Tree from Faith Magazine: Each day has one main scripture verse followed by a very short description of the symbol and what it represents, followed by a longer scripture reference to look up. They also have the whole set of ornaments available for download, both small ones (3.5") and large ones (7.5").

10) Print Candee is offering a printable Jesse Tree Kit for free for a limited time on their Facebook page! The kit includes 3 sheets of 27 1.5" circle ornaments, 1 Scripture verse guide and 27 corresponding gift boxes to keep the ornaments in underneath the tree. They also have a tutorial on how to make the ornaments. This set is adorable!!

11) Jesus Storybook Bible Jesse Tree. This is a blog post describing how the Rutherfords have used only the Jesus Storybook Bible in order to do their Jesse Tree. Ornaments are not included, and obviously, the Jesus Storybook Bible is required. Because I'm always slightly leery of blog posts becoming unavailable (set as private, or simply removed), I'm going to include the schedule right here (ornament idea in brackets).
Dec 1 - Creation (dove): JSB pg 18-27 based on Genesis 1-2
Dec 2 - The Fall (fruit tree): JSB pg 28-37 based on Genesis 3
Dec 3 - The Flood (rainbow): JSB pg 38-47 based on Genesis 6-9
Dec 4 - Tower of Babel (tower): JSB pg 48-55 based on Genesis 11
Dec 5 - The Promise to Abraham (stars in the sky): JSB pg 56-61 based on Genesis 12-21
Dec 6 - Abraham and Isaac (ram): JSB pg 62-69 based on Genesis 22
Dec 7 - Jacob, Rachel and Leah (stalks of grain): JSB pg 70-75 based on Genesis 29-30
Dec 8 - Joseph (rainbow coat): JSB pg 76-83 based on Genesis 37-46
Dec 9 - Moses and the Burning Bush (burning bush): JSB pg 84-91 based on Exodus 3-13
Dec 10 - Moses and the Red Sea (split waters): JSB pg 92-99 based on Exodus 14-15
Dec 11 - The Law (stone tablets): JSB pg 100-107 based on Exodus 16, 17, 19-40
Dec 12 - Joshua and Jericho (trumpet): JSB pg 108-115 based on Joshua 3 and 6
Dec 13 - David's Anointing (David the shepherd boy): JSB pg 116-121 based on 1 Samuel 16
Dec 14 - David and Goliath (slingshot): JSB pg 122-129 based on 1 Samuel 17
Dec 15 - David the Shepherd (lyre): JSB pg 130-135 based on Psalm 23, 51, 2 Samuel 7
Dec 16 - Naaman (heart): JSB pg 136-143 based on 2 Kings 5
Dec 17 - Isaiah (crown): JSB pg 144-151 based on Isaiah 9, 11, 40, 50, 53, 55, 60
Dec 18 - Daniel in the Lion's Den (Daniel and a lion): JSB pg 152-159 based on Daniel 6
Dec 19 - Jonah (fish): JSB pg 160-169 based on Jonah 1-4
Dec 20 - The Prophets (party hat): JSB pg 170-175 based on Nehemiah 8-10
Dec 21 - John the Baptist (shell): JSB pg 200-203 based on Matthew 3
Dec 22 - Mary and the Angel (angel): JSB pg 176-176 based on Luke 1-2
Dec 23 - Journey to Bethlehem (scroll): JSB pg 180-181 based on Luke 1-2
Dec 24 - The Shepherds and Wise Men (three wise men): JSB pg 184-188 based on Luke 2
Dec 25 - Jesus is Born! (baby Jesus): JSB pg 182, 190, 192-198 based on Luke 2

Updated to Add: Sally Lloyd Jones (author of the Jesus Storybook Bible) now has her own Advent Guide and it is available for free here!!

12) I found another set of printable ornaments here.

13) Focus on the Family also has a free digital download Advent Calendar when you register on the Thriving Family website. It offers daily Scripture readings, parent-child activities and links to JellyTelly video clips, stories, crafts, Christmas carols, recipes, Adventures in Odyssey audio dramas and more! You can also access it online here or get an iPad download here. (Thanks Jessica, for letting me know about this one!)

14) How to Celebrate Advent with a Jesse Tree is a free ebook compiled by Tara from FeelsLikeHome. Each day identifies the central character, the theme, the ornament, the key verse, a song to sing, a scripture reference to read and a prayer.

15) Advent chains are a simplified version of the Jesse Tree. SpellOutLoud has a free printable advent chain - each chain has a theme and scripture reference to look up. She also has a free printable name of Jesus advent chain, with a name of Jesus and scripture reference on each chain, as well as activity idea options.

16) My friend, Jessica, has created a pdf printable advent around 25 of the people from the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew's gospel.  You can print her text only pdf here, and the colour/graphics version here.

If I've missed any that you've found, please let me know!

There are also numerous books you can order to compliment your Jesse Tree, or even to do it entirely.

Jesse Tree Devotions: A Family Activity for Advent by Marilyn Breckenridge is a book containing the daily devotionals (Scripture reference, short devotional and prayer) as well as tree leaf shaped symbols that you can photocopy, colour and paste onto a large tree pullout (photocopy as well, or you'll have to reorder this every year).

The Advent Jesse Tree by Dean Smith is a beautiful hardcover book. The devotions for each day have a picture (which you could photocopy to make ornaments), symbol suggestions, a memory verse, a selection of hymns you could sing, followed by two separate devotions for children and adults. The devotional for children has a short scripture reference, a devotional, questions and a prayer. The adult devotional has a longer scriptural passage reference, a short devotion and a prayer.

The Jesse Tree by Geraldine McCaughrean is a telling of the Jesse Tree symbols and biblical tales in storybook form.

Bartholomew's Passage, Jotham's Journey and Tabitha's Travels by Arnold Ytreeide are not Jesse Tree specific, but are fantastic family stories for Advent. The storybook characters travel throughout Israel and encounter the biblical characters, ending their travels in Bethlehem just in time for the Saviour's birth. He also has another book, Amon's Adventure, for Easter-time.

Phew - that's all I got! Whatever your choice, my prayer is that this helps you to put the focus on Christ this Christmas.

Anticipating Advent - the Jesse Tree

I love it when people make things easy by doing all the hard work for me. :)

For a couple years now, when thinking about (and googling) ways to make Christmas meaningful to our kids, and distract them from all the presents and Santa hoopla (which is fun and all, but not the true reason we celebrate), I came across the idea of a Jesse Tree.

The Jesse Tree represents the family tree of Jesus and tells the entire story of God's salvation plan, beginning with creation and making its way through the Old Testament, showing how it all points to the coming of the Messiah. Reviewing this plan reminds us of how the Israelites waited for the birth of Jesus, and how we wait for His second coming today.

Each day of Advent focuses on one story in the OT and a handmade ornament is added to the Jesse Tree. A Jesse Tree can be a small Christmas tree, it could be any tree-type plant in your home, it could be branches sticking out of a pot, or it could even simply be a hand-drawn tree shape.

Last year, I came across a beautiful Jesse Tree Advent Devotional Book that was (and still is!) being given away for free, by Ann Voskamp at her blog A Holy Experience. Every day's readings contained the scripture passage, a devotional, and an action point (something to do, relating to the theme of the day's devotional). And the ornaments were so easy to put together (essential for this craft-challenged mother!). All I had to do was print them out, glue them on some green card stock with my pretty red ribbon and voila - done!! Like I said - virtually all the work done for me! :)

However, I found the devotionals a bit of a stretch for our kids, and her writing style wasn't really my style. So I supplemented the material with our Jesus Storybook Bible and The Big Picture Story Bible. The Jesus Storybook Bible is by far and away our favourite children's Bible (and we have more than a few). Seriously, if you don't have it yet, you really really really really really need to. And I'm not exaggerating. (Here's my review of it). Anyway, the girls absolutely loved doing this last year (we did about two per day in order to catch up, because we started late - so no using that as an excuse!!). This was our Jesse Tree last year.....

I love the whole idea of it, but I'm planning to rewrite some of the devotionals and revise things to create our own version of the Jesse Tree using many of our children's Bibles in the process.

I'm not entirely sure when that will get done - I do, technically, only have to have them done one day at a time, so in theory, I could still finish it this year. But it starts tomorrow!! So, we'll see what happens. It'll likely be a combo of last year's and whatever I have time to figure out for this year.

The only other problem is that this is a little over the head of my 3 yr old son.

Fortunately, I've found a solution. That post (including 3 giveaways!!) coming up tomorrow!

We're starting our Jesse Tree tomorrow, but we may be doing a little something more this year too (starting December 1st). Stay tuned!

PS - my cousin, Tammi, is doing this too - check out her Jesse Tree!

Our Jesse Tree

So, true to my previous post just a couple of days ago, I have our Jesse Tree supplies set up and ready to go! I printed out Ann Voskamp's free devotional booklet (complete with ornament pictures!) at her blog, A Holy Experience. I printed the ornaments on white card stock, then I measured them all and created a Word document with backgrounds sized to match each ornament (I can email it to you if you like), printed that on green card stock and mounted the pictures onto the green backgrounds with double sided tape with red ribbon in between.

And I even let Sophia & Olivia help me! Anyone who knows me knows that I generally have little no patience for crafts as I feel the perfectionist need to fix everything they do and freak out a little lot when things don't go as planned. And let's be honest here, do they ever go as planned with kidlets? I think not. Despite a few moments with one certain daughter which shall remain nameless the younger one, I managed to stop myself from freaking out and we had a very enjoyable time completing the project to my perfectionist standards! ;) Sophia cut the ribbon to the right length and Olivia wrecked helped me with the tape. They turned out great!
Emma was not impressed when she got home from school and found out we had done it without her, so I let her put on extra ornaments. ;)

I'm finding the devotionals a little bit of a stretch for our kids, so I got out our Jesus Storybook Bible and The Big Picture Story Bible to supplement the material.

Side note: if you do not yet have the Jesus Storybook Bible, go get it right now.
I will wait for you.
Got it? OK, good.
But seriously, you really need to get it. It's the best children's Bible I've read, and we have more than several! You can read my review on it here. My only complaint is that I wish it had more stories. The girls are particularly disappointed that the Queen Esther story is not included.

Both the Jesus Storybook Bible and the Big Picture Storybook Bible (the former even more than the latter) excel at showing you how the OT events point to the coming of our Messiah. Which is exactly what the Jesse Tree is all about!

So, I went through both Bibles and wrote in the page #'s that coincided with the Jesse Tree devotionals. There were very few days that did not have at least one supplementary children's Bible passage to go with it. So, depending on how much time we have, we will read the same passage up to 3 times! Talk about getting it to sink in - repetition is key, right? ;)

Like I said in my previous post, we are starting late, so we will usually be doing two per day until we catch up. I'm so glad we started late. It's not too late for you to start too! In fact, if you start on the 12th, you could do 2 per day (one in the morning, one at night) and still get them all in for Christmas time!

This is definitely going to be a yearly tradition at our house from now on!

Jesse Tree

If you're looking for a unique and meaningful way to celebrate advent and the reason for the season, you should consider making a Jesse Tree.

What is a Jesse Tree?

The Jesse Tree represents the family tree of Jesus and tells the entire story of God's salvation plan, beginning with creation and making it's way through the OT, showing how it all points to the coming of the Messiah.

Each day of Advent focuses on one story in the OT and a homemade ornament is added to the Jesse Tree. A Jesse Tree can be a small Christmas tree, it could be any tree-type plant in your home, it could be branches sticking out of a pot, or it could even simply be a hand-drawn tree shape.

This year, I came across a beautiful Jesse Tree Advent Devotional Book that is being given away for free, by Ann Voskamp at her blog A Holy Experience.

According to her site, each day's journey includes...

• The full Bible text of the day’s reading in either NCV or NIV (of course, feel free to read from your own Bible, if you’d prefer another translation.) Readings are selected to begin in Genesis and cover significant events throughout the Old Testament — each story pointing to the coming Messiah. It’s like an overview of the whole span of His Story — leading right up to the climax of the coming Christ!
• A devotional that (humbly attempts!) to be a read-aloud for the whole family – engaging enough for young children and yet meaty enough for teens and adults. (Thank you for grace!) Each reflection endeavors to not only highlight an important scene from God’s epic in time, but to always unwrap more of Jesus, the gift hidden in every story.
• a short, simple action point for the day — “Unwrapping more of His love in the World” — a way to do something together as a family that not only invites the coming Kingdom of God and Jesus’ love into your home and community, but is an opportunity to apply and live out the day’s devotional. It’s like an Advent Calendar that gives back – becoming more like the gift Himself!
• a full color ornament, illustrated by Nancy Rodden and used with permission, to hang on your own Jesse Tree. The very last pages of the book include all of the ornaments in over several pages so you can easily cut each ornament out and creatively mount to your own preferences

You might be thinking that it's too late, because we're already part-way into advent. That would normally be my perfectionist excuse. But, apparently you can teach an old dog new tricks! I don't care that we're starting late, we're still doing it! I'm going to try to do 2 each day until we're caught up. If I find that too much, we'll just skip to the present and go from there. And, instead of trying to make the ornaments all fancy, as per my perfectionist tendencies, I'm printing them on cardstock, mounting them on red cardstock paper, punching holes in them and hanging them like that. Maybe next year I'll get more creative, but the kids won't care!

I think I'd like to do something like this - not much more complicated really, but I don't have any ribbon on hand!

I highly encourage you to take a look at Ann's book at this link. She includes sample pages so you can see what it's like - you won't be disappointed!

You can also buy ornaments to match the advent topics - check out this blog for some great inspiration.

And, of course, there are Jesse Tree books you can purchase such as Advent Jesse Tree Devotions which has separate devotions for children and adults so both parents and children can benefit from readings at their level, and The Jesse Tree which is in more of a storybook format. I'm tempted to get these both ;)

I think we've just found a new tradition!