This is a little late in coming since the Jesse Tree is already finished this year, but I waited so I could get some pictures of the ornaments on the tree for this post. I chose some of my favorites for pictures, but I had trouble getting good photographs of some of them. The first ornament here is one of the two that I made for day 19. The brick wall is to the wall of Jerusalem to represent the returning to Jerusalem. Here are the scriptures for this ornament.
Nehemiah 1:3; 2:18; 6:15-16
And they said to me, “The survivors there in the province who
escaped exile are in great trouble and shame; the wall of
Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”
And I told them of the hand of my God which had been upon me
for good, and also of the words which the king had spoken to me.
And they said, “Let us rise up and build.” So they strengthened
their hands for the good work.
So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul,
in fifty-two days. And when all our enemies heard of it, all the
nations round about us were afraid and fell greatly in their own
esteem; for they perceived that this work had been accomplished
with the help of our God.
Revelation 21:10-14
And in the Spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain,
and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of
heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most
rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall,
with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the
gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were
inscribed; on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the
south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of
the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of
the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
Nehemiah 1:3; 2:18; 6:15-16
And they said to me, “The survivors there in the province who
escaped exile are in great trouble and shame; the wall of
Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”
And I told them of the hand of my God which had been upon me
for good, and also of the words which the king had spoken to me.
And they said, “Let us rise up and build.” So they strengthened
their hands for the good work.
So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul,
in fifty-two days. And when all our enemies heard of it, all the
nations round about us were afraid and fell greatly in their own
esteem; for they perceived that this work had been accomplished
with the help of our God.
Revelation 21:10-14
And in the Spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain,
and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of
heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most
rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall,
with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the
gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were
inscribed; on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the
south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of
the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of
the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
In case some of you have never heard of a Jesse Tree, let me begin again by explaining a little of the background of the Jesse Tree. Originally, the Jesse
Tree was represented in Catholic Churches as early as the 11th century. It was a sort of family tree (Jesus' family tree) represented in art in the actual church, not at homes. It traced the royal lineage of Christ back to Jesse, father of David. Typically, it started with Jesse at the bottom of the picture/painting and had a tree sprouting up above him with many pictures of Jesse's descendants (the number varied, but some larger works of art could include all 43 generations) leading up to Mary and then Jesus at the top. Nowadays, many Catholics have a version of this in their homes during Advent to teach children the lineage, prophesies, and Biblical history 
leading up to the birth of Christ. The ornaments hung on this kind of tree are not pictures of people, as they used to be, but symbols of the people, stories, and prophesies. For example, an apple represents the fall of man or a sling shot represents David and Goliath. There are slightly different versions of this with different stories emphasized over others, but all lead the children from the creation to the birth of Jesus. You add a new ornament with a reading from the Bible about that ornament each day of Advent. Some start on Dec 1st instead of the first day of Advent.Last year I cut out pictures and hung them on the tree with ribbon, but I wanted a nicer collection of ornaments for our Jesse Tree...something that would get the kids more excited. I should mention I got this idea of the ornament swap from the article in Faith and Family. I co-lead a Catholic Mom group locally and thought I would try to see if we could gather enough commitment to do this swap . Since our 
group isn't quite big enough, we decided to try to combine with the other Catholic groups in our community. I was able to get MCCW and the Catholic homeschooling group to join in this search. And after a few of us doubled up on ornaments we had our very own Jesse Tree swap going. It was much easier to manage than I anticipated, and I was overwhelmed by the faithfulness of all the moms who made their ornaments on time and got them to the official swap meeting. Now we all have complete sets of ornaments for our Jesse Tree. My kids really enjoyed doing it this year. I am so thrilled to be able to teach them Jesus' ancestry in such a fun and historic way.
group isn't quite big enough, we decided to try to combine with the other Catholic groups in our community. I was able to get MCCW and the Catholic homeschooling group to join in this search. And after a few of us doubled up on ornaments we had our very own Jesse Tree swap going. It was much easier to manage than I anticipated, and I was overwhelmed by the faithfulness of all the moms who made their ornaments on time and got them to the official swap meeting. Now we all have complete sets of ornaments for our Jesse Tree. My kids really enjoyed doing it this year. I am so thrilled to be able to teach them Jesus' ancestry in such a fun and historic way.
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