Advent Jesse Tree Exchange

     Remember the awesome busy bag exchange from this spring?  The same group of ladies (plus lots of friends and family) gathered this week to do a Jesse Tree ornament exchange.  I had never heard of the Jesse Tree until my friend Amy brought it up.  After some quick research I joined the effort, along with 24 other wonderful women.  A super special thanks to Amy for coordinating and hosting our fun event!

     There are a few different books out there on the Jesse Tree.  We are going with this one by Dean Meador Lambert.  This was also Amy's suggestion.  She got copies of a couple and let us know that this would be an easier one to follow.  I have paged through briefly and love it so far!  I especially like the song suggestions.  We sing at bedtime already, so I think this will be a fun thing to add during our holiday season.

     Lambert gives a great explanation of the concept.

     "The word Advent means 'coming' and refers to the coming of Jesus.  The Advent Jesse Tree emphasizes His coming in the flesh at Bethlehem nearly two thousand years ago.  It also explains His coming with the New Covenant and His second coming when He will return to judge all of mankind.  The Advent season is a time for all of us to prepare for these 'comings.'
     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.  The symbols trace the heritage of Jesus Christ from the beginning of creation.  Each symbol is explained with scriptures, devotions, questions, prayers, a memory verse, and songs."

     For our exchange each participant chose a day and created 25 of the same ornament to go with the symbol.  We had our exchange this week and 18 of 25 women were able to make it (all the ornaments were there!)  We had delicious snacks and gathered around to explain how we made our ornaments prior to exchanging.

     We got such a great variety of styles for the ornaments, definitely a perk to having 25 participants.  The picture below pretty well explain each day and symbol.

     There are a lot of other ideas and suggestions in the book on how to make this your own.  There are devotions for both kids and adults in the book and we plan to have a small tree just for Parker and the Jesse Tree ornaments.  I am excited to start this fun tradition with him so young and continue it for years to come.  I also plan to keep the names of the ornament makers in our book and incorporate a special prayer for that person and their family.  The holidays can be so busy, this will be a great way to stay connected to friends even when we can't be together.