A Dollop of Sour Cream

I'm not much into spicy food. I have recently discovered that if a meal is just a tad too spicy for me, I can put sour cream on top and make it not just palatable, but wonderful. This blog is devoted to doing the same for life.

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11.17.2009

Jesse Tree

Is it my imagination or is the Jesse Tree becoming more common? I first heard about this tradition 7 years ago when I was hanging out with one of my best friends as she worked on coming up with the Jesse Tree items for her son for that Christmas. (Her son is blind so she needed stuff that were tactile or hearing, and that was my idea of why she needed to make up her own. At the time). I was very interested, knew I wanted to do it one day with my kids. I got a list of the Jesse Tree ornaments/thees from her and packed it away in a "safe" place.

During the next year, her and her husband mentored my now-husband and I, moved to Austin, TX, and then she died. So I had no time to ask her any more questions about it. We got married. Every year I "meant" to do something with it. But never did. This year, my son is two. I figure its now or never! Luckily, I started back in September or this would be impossible (though as it is, I delayed enough that I'll have to work on more thorough ornaments next year -- though maybe some of the fun in it is getting the children themselves to make the ornaments?)

The Jesse Tree idea comes from Isaiah 11:1 "A shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots." The idea I want to put forth with our family Jesse Tree is that Jesus, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas time, did not just happen to arrive on earth when he did. But, rather, that the entirety of the Old Testament points toward him and he's the culmination of the events of the Old Testament.

Rocks in my Dryer overview

RCA devotions (with simple pictures)

Tired, need Sleep, with toddler-friendly coloring ornaments and a good list

The Adventures of Bear Holiday traditions post

Associated Content links
(including another great coloring download

Serendipity, and great felt ornaments

A set of ornaments focused on the people

A set of color ornaments

A lot of people read Jotham's Journey by Arnold Ytreeide at this time of year. I'm not sure if it is Jesse Tree related or not, but at that price, I picked up a copy. If you like it, there are two sequels (Tabitha's is being re-released next year so don't pay the exorbiant prices)

Another book that looks neat is Jesse Tree by Geraldine McCaughrean.

A good devotional for download is The Glorious Coming by Amy Voscamp, available in both ebook and book form.

4 Comments:

Blogger Becky @ Our Sweet Peas said...

Love it. I first heard of it last year but we didn't get the ornaments done in time. Now I would like to make completely different ones ;) Thanks for the links I will be checking them out!

7:54 AM  
Blogger The girl who painted trees said...

Great post! Thanks for linking up to my MckLinky. I remember that I loved Jotham's Journey, but I can't remember if it has to do with the Jesse tree either. Thanks for that link.

http://theadventuresofbear.blogspot.com

3:50 PM  
Blogger Marcie said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

4:15 AM  
Blogger Annette W. said...

Before the blogging world this year, I didn't know of it at all, but a couple of my friends do it!

2:39 PM  

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