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The Tree
When my son was a toddler, I started seeing these cute felt Christmas trees popping up on Pinterest. You know the ones I’m talking about! I thought having a tree he could play with was a great idea, but I didn’t want to hang anything on the wall. So I went on a search for a standing felt Christmas tree and found this tutorial for one made of cardboard.
It was perfect. I decided to poke holes through the cardboard and insert Christmas lights (which I super glued to prevent a choking hazard!). I got an extension cord with a foot switch for him to have fun turning the lights on and off.
The Ornaments
I had originally planned to make little ornaments for things he was interested in, like deer and balls, but when I went on an online search for felt ornaments I ran across all these “Jesse Tree” ornaments. I had never even heard of a Jesse tree before! Once I read about it I was sold on the idea.
So what was once just a tree that my curious son could manipulate is now one of our favorite family Christmas traditions.
The Assembly
I purchased the “Our Family’s Jesse Tree” product from Faith and Fabric. It not only contains the ornament templates and instructions, but also family devotions complete with assigned readings, prayers, and coordinating activities. It’s the perfect product for someone wanting to start this tradition and it’s appropriate for kids of all ages.
Although you have the option to make the ornaments from paper, foam, or just use the provided templates as coloring sheets, I chose the most time consuming option: sewing felt ornaments! I assembled a little bag for car rides that contained a binder with the 80+ page booklet, embroidery floss, a stack of felt, a permanent marker, magnets, and scissors. Each time we went on a car ride I grabbed this bag and made use of the time in the car. This project didn’t take any extra time, I just made use of time that might have been wasted. Ok, sleeping in the car isn’t wasted time, but Josh sure appreciated my alertness and company while I was working on these!
I mentioned my bag was full of magnets. Since I began these when my son was small and didn’t have the fine motor skills for hanging ribbons on buttons yet, I decided to sew a magnet inside the ornaments. I used these magnets because the ones sold at local craft stores were not strong enough to go through the cardboard of the tree and the layers of felt on the tree and ornament. Even though Josiah and Jessa can now maneuver buttons just fine, I still like the clean look of the ornaments.
You may notice not all of my ornaments match Jen’s. In her ebook she encourages the reader to use the templates as a guide and not to limit your creativity. I will have to say the first few I made (I didn’t go in order) I stuck to the pattern. However, as I felt more comfortable with my sewing skills and learned the science of piecing together ornaments I began to branch out with other designs. It was fun! And I’m proud of the one-of-a-kind heirloom quality tree we will share for many years.
The Tradition
We include our Jesse Tree as part of our Christmas Time Morning Basket. I thought about making little numbered linen bags for each ornament (similar to our Christmas Book Advent Calendar), but instead I just hide an ornament somewhere in the house before we begin basket time. Because these have magnets in them its fun to find all the places they can hide: on metal chairs, hinges, appliances, air return vents, etc!
During basket time we read the reading from our Jesus Storybook Bible (not all of the stories are included and for those we just use another children’s Bible). The Jesus connection is presented in this Bible so it’s a great fit with a Jesse Tree tradition. We sometimes do the suggested activity, but don’t always get to it, and I don’t sweat it if that happens. The most important part is the connection that is made between us as we share God’s word and anticipate the coming of his Son as the newborn king.
Does your family have a Jesse Tree? I’d love to hear what Christmas traditions your family enjoys together.