Jesse Tree

Happy halfway to Christmas!

After researching Advent ideas late last Fall, I decided that I wanted our go-to countdown to be the Jesse Tree. We had never done it growing up, but had done similar things, and I had friends who had a beautiful felt tree with felt/velcro ornaments, so I set out to make something similar.

Once we narrowed down what we wanted our 25 things to be, it was a really fun project. I loved how small and portable it was, and how rewarding and easy to work with felt is (no hemming!). I gave myself a rule that I couldn’t buy anything for them since we had plenty of ribbon and felt from other projects.

Making them myself meant that we could choose exactly what we wanted to focus on. Different Jesse Tree sets choose different things, some including names of Jesus, others focusing more on tracing Jesus from Genesis to His birth or beyond. When I saw some incorporating various major and minor prophets, I knew I wanted to do that. So we have:
1. Creation
2. Fall
3. Flood
4. Babel
5. God’s promise to Abraham (stars)
6. Isaac (the ram)
7. the Lion of Judah
8. Moses (the burning bush)
9. Passover
10. The 10 Commandments

11. Joshua/Jericho/Entering the Promised Land
12. Ruth (sheaves of wheat)
13. King David
14. Solomon
15. Isaiah (seraph)
16. Jeremiah (The Weeping Prophet)
17. Nehemiah (wall)
18. Elizabeth (the baby in my womb leapt for joy)
20. Mary (sword will piece your heart)
21. John the Baptist (unworthy to untie His sandals)

21. Joseph (hammer)
22. Manger
23. shepherds
24. Magi
25. Cross

I’m sure over the years we’ll end up with a more set reading plan for this, and transition to reading direct scripture, but we’ll probably read mostly out of The Big Picture Bible Storybook, DK Illustrated Family Bible, and Jesus Storybook Bible for now, with a few words of explanation to the girls of how it connects to Christmas. I’m really looking forward to using them with S this year (E too, but she won’t really get much of it yet!).

Inspiration:
http://handmadebymegk.blogspot.com/2012/11/advent-calendar-revisited.html

DIY Jesse Tree Ornaments

http://www.dosmallthingswithlove.com/2014/12/31-jesse-tree-ornaments-patterns.html

Click to access jessepatterns.pdf

A Quick Guide to Jesse Tree Ornaments

2020 Update with passages for reading:

1. Creation – Genesis 1 (& 2)
2. Fall – Genesis 3
3. Noahic Covenant (Ark) – Genesis 7:1-12; 9:1-17
4. Babel – Genesis 11:1-9
5. Abrahamic Covenant (stars) – Genesis 12:1-3, 17:1-8
6. Isaac (Ram) – Genesis 22
7. Judah (Lion) – Gensis 29:31-35; 49:8-12
8. Moses (Bush) – (Exodus 2:1-10); Exodus 3:1-10
9. Passover (Lamb) – Exodus 11:12-32
10. Ten Commandments – Exodus 20
11. The Land (horn) – Joshua 1
12. Ruth (wheat) – Ruth 2:3-13; 4:13-22
13. Davidic Covenant (Crown) – 2 Samuel 7
14. Solomon (scales) – 1 Kings 3:5-14; 11:3-13
15. Isaiah (seraph) – Isaiah 6:1-5; 7:14; 9:1-7
16. New Covenant (tear/Jeremiah) – Jeremiah 31:15-17; 23-24
17. Return to the Land (Wall/Nehemiah) – Nehemiah 1:1-4; 2:17-18; Ezra 3:10-13
18. John the Baptist (sandals) – Luke 1:5-25
19. Mary (sword and heart) – Luke 1:26-38
20. Elizabeth (pregnant woman) – Luke 1:39-45 (up to v 66)
21. Joseph (hammer) – Matthew 1:18-24
22. Manger – Luke 2:1-7
23. Shepherds – Luke 2:8-20
24. Magi – Matthew 2:1-13 (up to v 18)
25. Messiah – Luke 24:17-29 (up to 35); Acts 2:22-24; Galatians 4:4-5; Philippians 2:5-11; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8

PS – for more Advent themed art, look up The Consolation of Eve and Donne’s La Corona.