A Jesse Tree

I found this idea on one of my Christmas sites that I love, and when I saw the name it made me think of my Jesse, so we are going to do a Jesse Tree in the spirit of him being away from us this Christmas. This is meant to teach small children the meaning of Christmas but I think us big children can always use some reminding of why we celebrate Christmas.

A Jesse tree is a small tree decorated with symbols portraying the spiritual heritage of Christ. A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse. (Isa 11:1) Jesse was the father of David who was to establish a royal family. A thousand years later Jesus was born in this royal line in Bethlehem. A Jesse tree can be made by using a small Christmas tree or branch from an evergreen tree. It could be a bare tree branch potted in plaster of paris or placed in a vase. It could be created by taping a branch cut from paper on the wall. Each day a scripture is read and a symbol hung on the tree. The scriptures begin with Adam and Eve and include such stories as Noah's ark, Abraham, Elijah, David, John the Baptist, Mary, Joseph, shepherds, and the birth of Christ. There are many links to Jesse trees on the internet or books to purchase that include ready made ornaments that can be used as sources to create your own tree. Much of the value in this project is in choosing which stories your family will use, reading the scripture and having your children create a drawing to go with the scripture to hang on the tree. At the end of December, a picture of the manger with baby Jesus could be hung at the top of the tree.