Threads are what guide us through life and tie us to those we love. At this time of year, I am always looking for a thread to tie our family to Christmas before the whirlwind of the season, sugarplum fairies and cookies and concerts, distracts us just long enough that it is January and Christmas is gone for another year.
This is the first year that I was organized enough to do a Jesse Tree with my kids. I wanted to try it as I had read that it deepens your child’s understanding of Christmas.
But I had no inkling that doing the tree together becomes a ribbon that threads our whole day with thoughts about the bible, and God, and family.
Each morning my children wake excited to hear the next passage from the bible, read over breakfast. Then we talk it over and they each get to spend the day deciding how best to represent that section of the story in an ornament. Finally at the end of the day we light the advent candles at the dinner table and sit down as a family to hear my Hub read the passage. We talk about it again as a family and the kids show us their ornaments that they hang on the Jesse tree.
This continuous ribbon weaving its way through each of our days has centered our focus solidly on family. Us. Together. Thinking and reading, exploring and discussing.
This little tree, placed in our guinea pig cage by the children, with its rag-tag ornaments ranging from poems and a pencil drawing of an earth Pokemon to a candle stub representing the light that we follow, has become the center of our focus. It is deepening our family. Strengthening it. Enabling us to slow down and celebrate our family and the real meaning of Christmas.
