Christmas Traditions {Part 1}

The Christmas season is upon us!  For the next few weeks, Walking Worthy will bring you posts full of Christmas traditions from our very own Southeastern family.  To kick off this series, Leah Finn will share one of her family’s traditions: Jesse Tree ornaments.  Read on, dear sisters!

Christmas is a special time of celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and looking forward to his second coming.  One of the ways my family is building anticipation for Christmas and Christ’s eventual return is through the use of Jesse Tree ornaments.  

The name and basis for the Jesse Tree is found in Isaiah 11:1-3:

“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.  And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.  And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.  He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear.”

The Jesse Tree tells the story of redemption and God’s plan to redeem the world from the very beginning of time.  This plan is traced through key figures in Jesus’ “family tree” and other stories.  It is portrayed in basic symbols/ornaments that remind you of the story. On each day leading up to December 25, a new ornament is put out, and a scripture passage is read to explain the story.

The visual symbols along with repeated telling of the grand narrative of Scripture help to focus our hearts on Christ during the Christmas season.  Children especially resonate with basic, colorful ornaments that symbolize different parts of the greatest story of all time—i.e., a whale for Jonah, a crown for King David, or three gifts for the wise men.

This year, I participated in a Jesse Tree Ornament Swap with several other ladies in the Wake Forest area.  We followed the storyline explained at this site.  

{If you have a chance to peruse this site, it contains many helpful suggestions for incorporating your Jesse Tree into your daily rhythm, as well as an e-book with a devotional guide for each day of the Jesse Tree.  You can also find a devotional guide and printable ornaments to follow the devotional guide.

In addition, the Jesus Storybook Bible has a schedule of reading that is very similar to the Jesse Tree.  I would encourage you to find something that works for your family!  (There are many Jesse Tree or Advent readings that you can follow.  For the most part they are the same, but there might be differences in order or in what stories are included.)}  

Each person participating in the Wake Forest Jesse Tree Ornament Swap picked a story/symbol and then made 26 copies of the same ornament.  Shortly before Thanksgiving, all of the ornaments were ‘swapped,’ and each participant now has a full set of Jesse Tree ornaments without having to make all of them!

The ornament my family and I made represents Queen Esther.  My older children helped me to paint the ornament bases (simple wooden circles that we purchased in bulk), I stenciled on the crown and the scepter, and my kids “bejeweled” them.  It was a fun craft project, and they feel a sense of ownership of the ornaments.  

It was such a treat to receive the complete set, and to see how everyone interpreted their chosen symbol.  The different types of materials used and the variations between beautifully simple and elaborately detailed make this quite a colorful collection.  We will not be setting up a real tree for the ornaments, though that is an option.  We will be hanging our ornaments from cord strung across our fireplace—a place of prominence, easily viewed and therefore easily remembered.

You may feel like it is too late to begin a Jesse Tree now, but it is easy to catch up on the readings by doubling up for a few days (we will be doing that ourselves, as December caught us off guard).  You do not have to make ornaments if that is not your inclination, but you may find it to be a fun family activity. Take a few minutes to search for “Printable Jesse Tree ornaments” and you will find many sets that you can print and have your kids color.  What a fun way to get the kids involved in telling the story! If you are new to the Jesse Tree tradition and would like a jump-start, you can even purchase ornaments here. 

I hope that this Advent season will be one of great anticipation, of celebrating the birth of our Savior, of looking forward to his return, and of teaching our children the greatest story ever told.

Leah Finn is the wife of Nathan and mom to the four Finnlings, Georgia (age 7), Baxter (age 5), Eleanor (age about-to-hit-the-terrible-threes) and Fuller ( 7 months). The Finns have lived in Wake Forest for over nine years, though they proudly call the state of Georgia home, and are actively involved in First Baptist Church Durham. Leah doesn't really have free time, but if she did she would spend it reading a good book while drinking good coffee. Read all about their family at their blog!