'Tis the Season for a New Family Tradition

I’m such a sucker for Christmas traditions! I think there’s something so special about the memories created year after year with the ones you love. My husband and I have been married five years now and we have a two and a half year old daughter. Our family is still young and we are in this special phase of life where we are establishing what our fun and thoughtful family traditions will be for the holidays for the years to come.

Of course, we knew we had to include a fun outing to get a fresh tree and spend time snuggled up watching The Santa Claus movies during the weeks leading up to Christmas. Listening to Christmas music daily is a must and visiting Santa on the local square has become a must-do as well.

But in the midst of all of this fun we have always talked about how we want our daughter to grow up knowing the true meaning of Christmas. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in the hustle and bustle, the decorating, the gifts and everything in between. So often during childhood there is such a large emphasis on Santa and presents that the true meaning of Christmas becomes an after thought. It truly is such a fun, joyous and magical time of year. Yet, in the midst of all of this fun, we understand that we, as parents, have a big responsibility to shepherd our daughter toward Christ. This time of year is a wonderful way to show her how to enjoy the worldliness of Christmas without forgetting the powerful truth of this season.

We believe Christ and Santa can co-exist in a Christian household during Christmas. We just think it’s vital that the emphasis is on Christ and his birth. We fully believe the foundation of a child’s faith is built at home and, therefore, it's up to us to be as intentional as we can be.

So, once we decided we wanted to try and begin some new traditions that focused a little more on Christ, I got to work finding ideas that would be a perfect fit for our little family. As I searched for different ideas for new traditions to make our own, one stood out to me! I know there will be more we will add through the years but the winner for this year is the Jesse Tree. My sister first mentioned it to me and I instantly went and Googled what it was. If you’ve never heard of a Jesse Tree, you’re not alone! I can honestly say I had no clue what this tree was about and wondered how I went 30 years never hearing of it but it’s actually such a great idea and our daughter, Avery, has been loving it!!

So, first things first! Let me tell you what a Jesse Tree is all about and then I'll tell you why we are loving this new tradition. 

What is a Jesse Tree?

A Jesse tree is a tradition that dates back to medieval times. These trees are used to help us tell the story of the Bible from creation leading up until the birth of Christ. It's a wonderful way to connect the tradition of decorating Christmas trees to the events leading to the birth of our Savior, Jesus. The name comes from Jesse, the Father of King David. We also see the name in scripture in Isaiah 11:1: “A shoot shall come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” 

Each day during advent, you get to adorn your tree with illustrated ornaments that each represent different events, prophesies and people in the Bible leading up to Christmas. It's a fun and simple way to begin sharing God's goodness and faithfulness to our little ones. And what kid doesn't love hearing stories and helping decorate a tree?!

Why We Love It:

There are three main reasons we loved the idea of making the Jesse tree the newest Shrader Christmas family tradition:

1. It's a time for all of us to come together for quality time and share in God's word daily during the Advent season.
2. Our daughter gets to be involved in the entire process. She loves that she has a tree that's all her own that she gets to decorate herself. 
3. And of course, the most important part--we have a chance to fix our eyes on the true meaning of Christmas and walk through God's faithfulness together and help build that foundation for our daughter.

What You'll Need: 

(This isn't sponsored, I'm just sharing things I love!)

TYPE OF TREE: The beauty of the Jesse Tree is that there are many ways to create one. Some are felt and others are made with real ornaments to hang on a tree. Our ornaments are real, wooden pieces so we got a 3 foot, artificial, pre-lit tree! I did this on purpose to have something sturdy but also fun and festive for our little one. She gets a tree all to herself to decorate and it's a great way to show that the tradition of adorning a Christmas tree and learning about Christ's birth can all coincide! My little one had a blast rolling around Target trying to help me find the perfect one! I loved involving her in the process! We found this one at Target and snagged it on sale: Prelit Artificial Tree  

A BIBLE: You will need a Bible to help tell the story for each day of Advent. We have chosen to use the Jesus Storybook Bible (see photograph below) to make the stories more age appropriate. Our daughter loves the illustrations in this Bible and it has been a great fit for the Jesse Tree. If for some reason the story being conveyed on a specific day of Advent is not in the Jesus Storybook Bible, we simply read the verse and explain it as best as we can.

ORNAMENTS: I love the ones I found on Amazon. I chose these because we can use them for years to come! The wooden ornaments are sturdy and the illustrations are beautiful, colorful and very child friendly. It contains a pamphlet that has a blurb and Bible verses to reference for each day of Advent. All the guesswork is done for you. I also love that this first year we get to put the stickers on ourselves. It makes it a fun craft for your little ones to be a part of! And don't worry, it's completely fool proof. Everything is illustrated well so you know exactly which stickers match up. You can find these ornaments here: DIY Jesse Tree Ornaments

The important thing is to have FUN, be intentional and enjoy this season together. This takes us about 5-10 minutes each night and our daughter truly looks forward to it and enjoys this sweet time we all spend together. Maybe it's just because she gets to decorate her tree but I know we all treasure this extra time we are spending together and that's one of the best things about this time of year, spending it with the ones you love!