JESSE TREE

The Jesse Tree

In my house, we do something called the Jesse Tree. We print paper ornaments and read the bible stories for them. We color the ornaments, too! All of these ornaments lead up to Jesus, so this is kind of like His family tree. You can learn a lot about Jesus through the Jesse Tree.

The Jesse Tree is done daily. My family sits down together and reads the bible story. We then hang the ornament on the tree. It's a fun project that you can do with your whole family! All you need are these items:

• Tree (we reuse a small fake tree every year)
• Ornaments (you can print them off online)
• Bible (or you can use an online bible)

I hope you can do the Jesse Tree, and you will probably be able to recognize most of the stories!

God Bless You!

Advent

Today is the start of a New Year for Catholics. It's December 2, and the first Sunday of Advent! I remember last Advent, we learned about the Advent Wreath. Remember the four candles? Well, today is the day where you can take out those Advent wreaths and light the first candle: the purple one!

Today, think about what you can do to make this Advent a good one. What can you give to Jesus? Remember: you can do things like being kind to your little siblings or helping your mom or dad because Jesus is inside them!

Here are some things you can do to make your house more Advent-y:

• My family has a few nativity scenes around the house. For our large one, we put the figures (Joseph, Mary, the shepherds, the animals) on the table and an empty manger on the table as well. We put the Wise Men on the piano in the other room. We don't bring them to the table until Epiphany. And we don't put Jesus in the manger until Christmas Day. 
• Turn on Christmas music or Advent music. 
• Put up your Christmas decorations!

Make sure to light your candles every Sunday!