My Catholic upbringing always makes me think about the Advent season. I remember the colored candles, wreath, live nativity, incense burning my eyes each week (oh wait, I was listing positive memories!), candy advent calendar, etc...... all culminating with Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.
Although it's a great reminder for myself, I also really want my boys to have a clear grasp on the true meaning of the Advent/Christmas season. Salvation doesn't begin with the birth of a sweet, tiny baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. The rich history of the Old Testament brings forth the work of salvation from the beginning of Creation.
The answer.........
The Jesse Tree
There aren't as many resources out there as I thought there would be, but we are really pleased with the book we chose to use - The Advent Jesse Tree by Dean Meador Lambert. (I ordered it on Amazon for $10 last year and it came in 2 days, which was important since I waited until Nov 29th to order!)
As the author states, "The Advent Jesse Tree seeks to tell the story of God's redemptive plan for the world through 25 symbols from the Old and New Testament. Each symbol is explained with scriptures, devotions, questions, prayers, memory verse, and songs."
There is a children's devotion and a short one for adults as well. I enjoyed reading the adult devotion each morning and then doing the children's one with our family in the evenings after dinner.
I'm leery of even posting pictures of our meager ornaments, but I know I was frantically searching for pictures of ornaments last year, so maybe they will help someone else out there....
The ornaments are placed on a small 2 foot pre-lit tree just sitting on our kitchen counter. Ornaments can be made or purchased. We just used felt and made each symbol....some were even made the day they were needed! Better late than never, right? All our symbols are ready to go this year, and will be wrapped up this weekend. The boys will get to open one each evening during our devotion time. It would be fun to create or even color a simple ornament each day, but my boys aren't big into crafts (bummer, right?) so we might wait a few years.
I only became acquainted with this in 2009, but it was such a sweet time for our family last year. I think I've been dreaming of Advent since July! I hope and pray that your family will spend time thinking about the work on the Cross and the true meaning of Christmas.
(I know you only have a few days to get your stuff together for this year, but it would be SO FUN to do an ornament swap in the fall next year! If 25 ladies wanted to participate, each family would make 25 of one ornament, come swap, and then go home with a completed set. Sounds fantastic! Lord willing, I will try to get this together next fall!)
