Christmas Traditions

I hope my children have wonderful memories of our Christmases.  One of the ways I try to make that happen is by starting and keeping traditions that they look forward to each year and will remember when they’re older.  I thought I’d spend some time this month posting about some of our Christmas traditions.

A tradition I started a couple of years ago is called The Jesse Tree.  My children know that Christmas is when we celebrate the joy of salvation that was made possible through Jesus’s birth (and ultimately his death).  However, I didn’t want that celebration to focus on just one day. The Jesse Tree connects the Advent season with Old Testament promises of the coming Savior.   The Jesse Tree gets its name from Isaiah 1:11,

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
   from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

This prophetic verse points to the promised Messiah who will be a descendent of Jesse (King David’s father).   Each day during Advent, we read a passage from the Old Testament and then hang a relevant ornament on the Jesse Tree.  The scriptures span 4000 years of God’s promise of salvation to His people and ends with the ultimate fulfillment of that promise; the birth of Jesus.

Two years ago, I let the kids pick out any tree (within budget) to use as our Jesse Tree.  They chose a white tree with multi-colored lights.  I didn’t like the laminated ornaments I used in the past, so this year, we made new ornaments.  I found clip art pictures that represented each of the scriptures and printed them on white card stock.  I then used a circle cutter to cut them out and glued them onto foam ornaments I bought at Michael’s.  The kids had fun decorating them with glitter glue and sequins.

The readings I use were written by Anne-Marie Welsh for Faith magazine, published by the Diocese of Erie.  You can find them here.

What are some of your Christmas traditions?

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