By decorating a Jesse Tree during Advent, we remember Bible stories of Jesus’ ancestor, Jesse, and others who helped prepare the world for the birth of Jesus from the beginning of creation to that most wondrous day! It’s a simple, family-friendly way to celebrate the season of Advent and connect with Scripture each day as your family is reminded of God’s amazing plan to save us.

Part of this month’s Advent Activity packet is a set of Jesse Tree ornaments, and we’re hoping you find a little inspiration here to get an early start on that project.

There are 29 ornaments to cover all the possible days from the beginning of Advent until Christmas day, so it’s a bit of a project to complete them all. Because of that, it might be worthwhile for you to take an extra step to make them stronger and possible to use from year to year. (NOTE: The longest Advent can possibly be is 29 days. Some years it’s shorter and in those years you may want to double up on some of the stories.)

Making Your Ornaments into an Annual Family Tradition

After you color and cut them out, a simple option is to laminate your ornaments, use a hole punch, and then make a hanger with a ribbon or string. If you would like a little more of a project, consider purchasing 3″ wooden circles from a craft store or Amazon and mod-podge your decorated ornaments onto them.

How to Display Your Ornaments

We have some ideas for this too.

• If your Christmas tree is up at the beginning of Advent, you could simply leave space to hang a new ornament each day along with whatever other ornaments you are using. We know of families who go one step further and only use lights and Jesse Tree ornaments on their tree until they redecorate it for Christmas on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
• You could purchase a smaller artificial tree that is placed in a family prayer space and only gets decorated with Jesse Tree ornaments.
• Some families like to accentuate the more somber tone of Advent by using a bare branch for their Jesse Tree. You’ll need a pot filled with sand or pebbles (or plaster of Paris) to hold the branch in place.
• If you have a woodworker in your family, a fairly easy DIY project is a “dowel Christmas tree.” Google it for DIY or ready-to-purchase options.
• It’s easy to string the ornaments to hang on a mantle, over a doorway, or along a stair rail. For this option you could hang all the ornaments at once on a ribbon and just turn a new one facing forward each day of Advent.

And keep in mind that the core of the activity is the Bible stories, so you don’t have to do any of this crafty stuff if it wouldn’t be fun for your family!