By Danni Koko
“I want to do something for Christmas!” If your kids are anything like mine, they are convinced that their level of excitement can exponentially speed up time. Since we have yet to even reach Thanksgiving, and since Mom always gets pulled into these projects, I was not quite ready to dive into Christmas arts and crafts!
So when we decided to decorate a Jesse tree for the first time, I had no idea what to expect.
The great news is that the project exceeded our expectations!
It’s like a cooperative game where everyone has to work together to win, and the results were SUPER cute!
Not only did it get us in the Advent mindset, but it brought all of us together for a lighthearted family activity that felt like a Bible-themed trivia game.
Why make a Jesse tree?
It is true that Advent is coming, but with all the excitement building up for Christmas Day, it can be easy to skip over the season of Advent and head straight for Christmas itself.
In light of focusing on preparing for Jesus, we thought it would be a fun family activity to make a Jesse tree…
…but we had never attempted one before and didn’t know where to start.
Turns out, this is a REALLY fun project for kids of different ages!
Read on to see how we made our ornaments. Below I’ve included a full list of suggested symbols and Bible readings that you can use as you decorate your Jesse tree!
What is a Jesse tree?
Good question. I didn’t know what a Jesse tree was – just that it’s a thing people do before Christmas, and I needed to give my kids something to keep them busy.
If you’ll remember, Jesus is descended from Jesse. “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit” (Isaiah 11:1).
I have a soft spot in my heart for the story of Samuel going to Jesse’s house in Bethlehem and meeting Jesse’s sons. You can read about it in Chapter 16 of 1 Samuel. Samuel is looking for a king, and like many fathers, Jesse is thinking about this logically. He introduces Samuel to his older sons, all seven of them, and at first he fails to introduce Samuel to David, the baby of the family. David is the youngest, an artist, the singer-songwriter of the family. I kind of think Jesse might have wondered what David was going to do with his life… you know, before Samuel anoints David and David becomes king of Israel. Eventually, Jesse and David will have a very famous descendent we’ve all heard of, born in their hometown of Bethlehem, whose birthday we will be celebrating at Christmas.
Similar to the way you would decorate a regular Christmas tree, a Jesse tree is adorned with ornaments displaying symbols of members of Jesus’s family, only you decorate one ornament at a time, Advent calendar-style.
Yes, it’s that simple: each day leading up to Christmas, you hang up one ornament symbolizing someone from the Bible.
As you move through Advent, it’s a great way to give your kids a symbol by which to remember their Bible stories, and I was pleasantly surprised that their drawings turned out SO CUTE. I love the childlike renditions of classic symbols, and their simplicity is really sweet.
If your kids are old enough to understand, you can read a passage from the Bible that illuminates each symbol so your kids can get a context for each person’s significance.
As a helpful reference, I’ve provided a suggested list of Bible verses below. In four weeks, you’ll definitely brush up on your Bible knowledge!
How do you choose who should be represented on the tree?
Realistically, you could probably choose anyone from Jesus’s family to represent on your Jesse tree, but it’s probably easiest to stick with people who are the most familiar to your kids so they can feel engaged in the project.
Anyone who can be easily represented by a symbol that kids can draw without difficulty is a great choice!
Online we found a suggested list of people who can be represented on a Jesse tree, which I credit below, but your tree doesn’t have to simply include people from Jesus’s direct lineage, at least in my humble opinion. There are many websites that have their own suggestions for who to include on your Jesse tree, so how you choose to get started is entirely up to your family! In our case, we have everyone from Adam and Eve to the prophets to John the Baptist.
Once you know who you’re going to represent on the tree, it’s time to get started making your ornaments!
How to get started on your Jesse tree
There are tons of Jesse tree kits for purchase online, but my kids wanted to make their own ornaments. We had a box of these wooden ornaments which we thought would be the ideal size. They are pre-drilled, so they’re easy to hang up, and marker shows up well on them.
One of the best things about making Jesse tree ornaments is that it can turn into a fun trivia game! I read off a list of clues, and my kids had a ton of fun guessing which person they symbolized. Some were really straightforward, like Noah’s ark, while others were more cryptic and required some thought.
A ladder? Jacob. A city wall? Nehemiah.
I hope you’ll see that this is a fun, achievable and rewarding project for ALL ages!
My kids split up who would draw which symbol, and they worked as a team to make a complete set of ornaments!
Here are a few of my favorites! Can you guess who each one represents?
Jesse Tree Suggested Symbols and Scripture Readings*
Tree with branches – Jesse – read Isaiah 11:1, or for greater context, Isaiah 11:1-16
Fruit – Adam and Eve – read Genesis 3
Rainbow or ark – Noah – read Genesis 9:1-17
Stars in the sky – Abraham – read Genesis 15:1-6
Ram – Isaac – read Genesis 22:1-19
Ladder – Jacob – read Genesis 28:10-22
Coat of many colors – Joseph – read Genesis 37:3
Burning bush – Moses – read Exodus 3:1-12
Lamb – the Israelites – read Exodus 12:21-28
Stone tablets – Moses and Aaron – read Exodus 20:1-11
Ram’s horn trumpet – Joshua – read Joshua 6: 1-16, 20
Clay water pitcher – Gideon – read Judges 6: 36-40, Judges 7
Grain – Ruth – read Ruth 2: 1-12
Crown – Samuel – read Samuel 10: 1, 24
Harp – David – read Samuel 16: 11-18
Stone altar – Elijah – read 1 Kings 18:30-39
Empty tent – Hezekiah – read 2 Kings 18:1-6
Hot coals – Isaiah – read Isaiah 6:6-8
Tears – Jeremiah – read Lamentations 1:1-2
Stone watchtower – Habakkuk – read Habakkuk 2:1-3
City wall – Nehemiah – read Nehemiah 2:11-18
Dove – John the Baptist – read Luke 3:1-17 (my kids were not impressed by my suggestion of a locust to represent John, so they chose a dove because it appears at the baptism of Jesus in Matthew 3:13-17, among others)
White lily – Mary – read Luke 1:26–38
Mother and child – Elizabeth – read Luke 1:39–45
Tablet with pencil – Zechariah – read Luke 1:57–66
Carpenter’s hammer – Joseph – read Matthew 1:18–25
Manger – Jesus – read Luke 2:1–20
Chi-Rho – Christ – read John 1:1–18
*We found our list of symbols on the Loyola Press website. They provide information on the Jesse tree tradition here, written by James Campbell. The symbols we used are based on James Campbell’s descriptions. For the sake of children’s short attention spans, and also to keep the content PG, my list above provides a more concise list of Bible verses to read as a family.
You can absolutely add to this list and make the tree your own unique representation of Jesus’s family!
Once we’ve decorated our Jesse tree, I’ll share it in a future blog post!
We only have a couple more ornaments to make and are looking forward to Advent!
Does your family decorate a Jesse tree? I’d love to hear about your tradition! Leave a reply in the comments!