A New Christmas Tradition - The Jesse Tree

Jesse Tree Advent Calendar from BabyWhatKnots
Available HERE

There are certain things you remember from your childhood, yearly traditions that bring a touch of nostalgia when your senses journey back with notes of a familiar melody, whiff of pine or bite of baked yumminess. Maybe its Grandma's cookies, or Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas", or maybe its just the simple joy of Christmas tree hunting - arriving home pink-nosed and chilly, but heart and arms full of the soft scent of pine and the anticipation of finding place after perfect place for treasured ornaments.

I can distinctly remember certain snapshots of holidays...

Mom patiently making tray after tray of Christmas cutout cookies,

begging to be the one who got to set up the old-fashioned nativity scene,

hushed holiness of a Christmas Eve candlelit ceremony

lying underneath the decorated boughs, just staring for collective hours up into the sparkled branches while I listened to Nat and Bing and Vince on the record player. Truth be told, I'd still lay with my head under the branches if I didn't think my family would send me directly to Looney-ville, or the ER because I finally poked my eye out like Mom always said I would.

As I became an adult, I started thinking about what traditions I would want to carry into my own family. For years I wanted to add an Advent element to the holiday festivities, but never remembered until we were in the thick of it all and then promptly forgot until the middle of the following December.

Thankfully, this year I was finally able to think ahead. I had read an article in Ann Voskamp's blog about a book she had just published called Unwrapping the Greatest Gift, a family advent devotional, and figured it would be a great addition to our Christmas book compilation. Plus, it was on sale on Amazon. Yay! (Still is, by the way.)

I had also been eyeing an adorable advent garland that my friend had made for her family and toyed with the idea of creating my own. But seeing as even the simplest sewing projects sometimes always end up at my mom's house for the finishing touches, I decided trying to assemble an intricate 25 piece garland was probably not the way mom wanted to start her holiday.

While there are companion printables to Unwrapping the Greatest Gift as well as a ceramic ornament set, the first would have been loved to pieces within a few years and the second was a little too fancy for my taste. I wanted something the kids could touch and enjoy decorating with, but that would hold up over the years, eventually becoming an heirloom my grandchildren could treasure. So I shopped around and ended up with this darling set from the Etsy shop BabyWhatKnots. After reading each day's devotional from Voskamp's advent book and corresponding passages of scripture, the kids will get to find that day's ornament and put it on their very own Jesse Tree.

Ann's book starts where most people wouldn't think the Christmas story began - at the creation of the world - and then follows the heart of God as he weaves the pages of history into a tapestry that foretells the coming of the Savior, ending on that glorious night when he became Immanuel, "God with us." 

I'm so very excited about this tradition, because while I grew up knowing Christmas was about Jesus, I don't think I consciously linked the stories of the Old Testament with the gift of the New. Not in this way. Not deliberately and with great thankfulness and expectancy. 

Those are the very things I realized I want my children to take away from this season. Expectancy, thankfulness...and not just a little bit of WONDER.

I hope you take this journey too. Maybe with a Jesse Tree of your own, or a walk through the pages of your family bible as you revisit the forethought and love of a Father who moved heaven and earth to be GOD WITH US.

And if you have never known the beauty of the true Christmas Story, it's ok. I will be posting each day's reading for you. So grab that dusty Bible off your shelf, head to your local bookstore or google the scripture readings...Meanwhile, I will be praying that the Light of the World reveals himself to you in a transforming way this holiday season. 

All is Grace, 

Carie

4 months pregnant with our little Bubba.

There will always be something magical about freshly blanketed Christmas lights.

Bubba's first taste of WONDER.