Jesse Advent Tree

I know, I know.

It’s not even Thanksgiving yet, and I’m yapping at you about Christmas.

But hear me out:

Tsh at Simple Mom wrote a  post today about holiday traditions and said this:

I know you’ve been there, like me—on the evening of November 30, you realize the official month of Christmas begins tomorrow, so you’d better whip together your family’s advent calendar.

Every year, I have grand ambitions to thoughtfully, methodically prepare our holiday season with an Advent calendar or Jesse Tree. And every year, I scrap it together at the last minute. Or scrap the idea for next year. Not the biggest deal in the world, of course, but I do wish I had more time to enjoy the preparation of these sweet, simple family traditions.

SO TRUE.

I know so many people who say “Man!  I keep meaning to do that!!!”

So, I thought I’d remind my own readers as well: if you’ve been meaning to put together an Advent calendar…you should probably get on it now.  I mean, assuming you want to, of course.

I’ve shared before the Jesse Advent we do every year using this book.

I’ve always been honest and told you that because I insisted on real ornaments, it isn’t a cheap version…but with big sales coming up in the next week or two, this is the best time to put this together if you have been wanting to.

Someone asked me to post a listing of the ornaments so that they can get started shopping while they wait for the book to arrive…so, here it is:

(please remember this list is specifically for use with the devotionals in The Advent Jesse Tree: Devotions for Children and Adults to Prepare for the Coming of the Christ Child at Christmas…while similar, different devotionals use different bible passages…so one might use the story of Jonah and you would need a fish/whale ornament…while this one does not…so you would have a mish mash of ornaments that don’t match.)

Hint: I had the best luck finding ornaments at Macy’s and Kohls.  Start at Macy’s.  Every year they have a “religious” tree…so you’ll have no shortage of Jesus, wise men, Mary and crosses.

I also just bought this advent calendar  too.

Not because we needed two traditions…just that I was head over heels in love with it.

{image source}

And of course, Ann Voskamp has a free version you can download with cut outs.

There are lots of options (at lots of price points) you can use.  Don’t be overwhelmed.  But do get a head start on it. December 1 is right around the corner.

Do you do a Jesse Tree or other advent calendar?  What does yours look like?  Or have you been meaning to and haven’t gotten around to it yet?

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jeannett

I'm a mom to four. A wife to one. I believe in story. I love telling you about mine and would love to hear yours. There's really no sense in wasting our suffering and not sharing in each other's joy. We're all in this together...even if it doesn't always feel like it.

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