This year I am selecting a theme for the advent celebration on the blog, here. We will think about the themes of the Advent candles for the wreath each Sunday, but each day falling between the Sunday candles we will look at things relating to the the Jesse Tree ornaments and their correlating scripture references.
This weekend our family will prepare our Advent log for the season, it is a good time to get in order everything for your Advent wreath, or providing a branch for your Jesse tree, securely perched, to hold the lovely ornaments you have, or will make during the your celebration of Advent.
If you decide to make your own Jesse tree [this site also has printable ornaments, devotional guides and advent ideas], I think I would get a two gallon size container and a large well branched twig cut from a tree or large shrub. Filling the container with something like plaster of paris I’d then insert the branch. After letting it dry, I’d decorate the outside of the container if it isn’t already decorative.
Be sure the pot you use has some ballast to it ( weight in the bottom) so it isn’t easily tipped; even though the ornaments are likely very lightweight, the sorrow of everything smashing to the ground and getting all tangled or broken isn’t part of our Christmas celebration if we can forestall it! A small branch inserted into a large wad of florist clay at the bottom of a container of smaller proportions could also work well, then fill it with decorative marbles. This could be very pretty on a table top. Make the ornaments proportionate to the size of your little tree, if you decide on a more miniature size.
Setting up your “stump of Jesse with it’s sprout of a branch is the first devotional thought for tomorrow ( Saturday, December 1st, 2007), so you could combine your devotional reading with the set-up of your branch.
Remember: this Sunday is the first day of Advent!
