Last December, I bought Lydia an Advent book. It had a little lift-the-flap and then a verse and activity for each day. I thought it was going to be a fun thing for us to do—and it was. Except the book was kind of lame. I made the best out of it and was pretty happy with the results (some pictures here). But I figured I wouldn’t’ do it again.
Then I heard about the Jesse Tree. You know about this? The whole idea is that you have an ornament for each day of December. These ornaments represent a part of history that lead up to Jesus. Redemptive history, so to speak. It goes through creation, Noah, Rahab, David and everyone in between—all the way up to Jesus’ birth. What a fantastic idea! So many people look at Jesus’ birth or Jesus’ death and resurrection in a vacuum and not in context of the whole Bible. I’d love to be able to introduce this idea to Lydia early.
Ahem.
But would someone please remind me that my daughter is only TWO YEARS OLD?! As I started reading through every single devotion, I realized it was just too much. Every day is a different story–about a different person, a different king, a different scenario. It is completely interesting and exciting to me, but I’m pretty sure Lydia can’t make the connection from the “root of Jesse” to I-get-presents-on-Jesus’-birthday.
*sigh*
So, after two days of our Jesse tree, I’m going to tuck those ideas away until she’s uhm….about 8 years old. And I’m just going to go through the Christmas story with her. Then make an ornament for each part—that shouldn’t be too hard, right?
And because I’m nothing if not creative, I grabbed some more brown craft paper and made a Christmas tree as our “Jesse Tree”…
The first ornament is a tree to remind us of a family tree. Jesus came to earth as a human. He had a family tree. The second ornament is a piece of fruit. It’s to remind us of the fruit that Adam and Eve ate…their sin is what caused God to promise a Savior, Jesus.
Today I’ll transition to Luke 2 for the Christmas story. Lydia is already excited about our advent calendar/Jesse tree, so I’m looking forward to the next 22 days of learning the story of Jesus’ birth with her. I’ll be posting regular advent-ornament-jesse-tree-calendar updates (not daily, mind you, just regular) on my crafty kids’ blog, Impress Your Kids.
Speaking of which, we’re having a Joyful Impressions carnival this month. Post your own Christmas tradition, craft, recipe or fun activity on your blog and then link up with us!
Oh girl! It IS hard to remember that she is 2 sometimes, isn’t it? You are doing such a great job with her, though! What a treasure you are creating for little Lydie!
OH, THANK GOD! When you mentioned your Jesse Tree to me, I felt a twinge of jealousy because I wanted to do it with Woggie, but I knew he just wouldn’t get it yet! So, now that I feel a little better about the attention span (or lack thereof) of my 2YO…
We are doing a magnetic Advent Nativity calendar thingie that my MIL gave to us. I’m not sure how long it’ll last, the pieces are small and Wog’s constantly taking them off of the fridge and “cooking” them in a pot, which means that they may never be seen again. And I’m not sure our Advent tradition should involve so much yelling!
Maybe I’ll give it through the weekend and post about it for your carnival!
sometimes we have to adapt the best, workable ideas, to our needs… you did great!
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