Jesse tree

Image by Zelda F. Scott (CC-BY-SA)

When I first heard of a Jesse tree, I thought it was a great way to make Christmas more about Christ. It's basically an Advent calendar, but instead of random Christmas images or yummy chocolate, each day adds to a telling of the Bible story, from The Beginning to the birth of Christ. There's loads of ways that you can do this - give it a Google if you're interested. Here's what I'm going to do:

Firstly, I'm going to make little cards with the appropriate Bible verses. I'm going to follow this list. These cards will be decorated to be all Christmasy and will become tree decorations as the month of December goes on. Next, I'm going to spend the year collecting all the symbols, or at least one symbol per day. I could make it, draw it, or buy it in a toy shop. Then, I'm going to add an appropriate amount of glitter to make it a tree ornament. Finally, I'll make some bags to keep the symbol and the verses together - again with a Christmas flavor.

On 1 December, I'll put up my tree along with the 24 little bags, and as the month progresses, the tree will become more and more decorated with the tokens and readings. Well that's the plan anyway.

I'll post regularly about my hunt for the symbols. I'm going to try to source them instead of making them - a Christmas treasure hunt for myself. Anyone keen on joining me?

Merry Christmas!