using an Advent Jesse Tree to Celebrate Jesus at christmas

By Katharine Grubb

photo from: http://www.aholyexperience.com/2010/11/free-jesse-tree-advent-devotional-book/

I’m a stressed out Mom at Christmas time. I often am tempted to overlook the importance of Jesus’ birth. And if I’m neglectful, then my children will miss something meaningful.

To add meaning to our holiday season, over the last few years, our family has created a Jesse Tree advent calendar. Not only do we count down the days until Christmas, but we also read and reflect on the history of mankind and the need of a savior.

The name Jesse Tree comes from a prophecy. In the Old Testament book of Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah tells the discouraged nation of Israel that they will have a future king who will be their salvation.

This is what the NIV says in Isaiah 11:
1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; 
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD
3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.

The idea of the Jesse Tree is that its a way to simply and concretely introduce the idea of Jesus’s birth as an Old Testament fulfillment. A Jesse Tree has 25 symbols, one for each day of the month. The first symbol is about Creation, the later symbols depict Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and all of the Old Testament pillars of faith, including Jesse, the father of King David, who is a direct ancestor of Jesus.

A Jesse Tree in your home can be a branch with a small ornament hanging from it, one for each day in the month of December. The ornaments depict the symbol of each one of the ancestors of Jesus and the forerunners of our faith.

At our house, we didn’t have room for an actual branch. Instead, we cut out 4”X4” squares of paper and drew a picture of the 25 symbols on each one. Then we taped the paper around a doorframe in our dining room. We’d read the passage associated with that day, and, as the month progressed, so did the artwork and the discussions about why Jesus came, how Christmas is about all of mankind, not just for December 25th. As our children have grown older, they’ve come to anticipate the Jesse Tree as an important element in our Christmas celebrations.

Links for more Jesse Tree ideas, artwork to print and scriptures to look up, try these links:
ERIErcd
A Holy Experience 
Jesse Tree
CRI Voice

I’ve found that there is a bit of inconsistency on these sites. This isn’t a major church doctrine, it’s just a fun tradition, so there is no right way to do it. Like everything you do in your family, choose how it can best fit your needs to add meaning to Christmas.

Gift Idea: The Coupon Book for Grandparents

By Katharine Grubb

My parents and in-laws do not need more junk. The don’t need more clothes, nor sweets, nor the latest gadget (although they have fallen in love with their iPad). What they need this holiday season is more quality time with my children. So for Christmas one year, I made them a holiday coupon book.

Fortunately, they are close enough for us to be together on a monthly basis. So I made a coupon book with twelve coupons, one for each month of the upcoming year. Each coupon was decorated with the foods we planned on eating and pictures of us enjoying our time together. This was pretty simple and nice for me, the non-scrapbook type of mom.

January: Eat beef stew and watch the Patriots in the playoffs.
February: Spaghetti and meatballs and Valentine’s celebration
March: Homemade pizza and board game time
April: Pack a picnic lunch and go to Drumlin Farm to see the baby animals
May: Pack a picnic and walk through Arnold Arboretum
June: Grammy’s birthday celebration!
July: A cookout and a trip to the zoo
August: Beach day picnic!
...You get the idea...

This was a huge hit. We made an extra effort to schedule the events, but we also walked in grace, so when Grampy was sick, we just picked it up the following month.

This was fun to make, fun to plan and fun to enjoy all year long. And we took lots of photos to make it even more special.

X-Out: Drought, Thirst, Disease

By Karen Brown

As a mom, I can’t imagine the devastation of losing a child. The heartbreak and despair would be almost unbearable. What if the loss of that child was totally preventable? What if all it took to save my baby were people willing to share a little from their excess with my family? So simple.

One child dies every 15 seconds due to a water-related disease. So much avoidable grief, family devastation, and loss. It is truly mind boggling. Sometimes we’re left wondering what we can possibly do to help. Wondering how we can make a difference in a place a half a world away.

This Christmas we have the opportunity to make Christ’s birth Good News for all. REUNION has partnered with Old Try to make Christmas cards that support the mission of transforming communities by digging clean water wells. Three dollars from the sale of each cards goes directly to Living Water. And that may be the coolest part. You aren’t just giving Christmas cards; you’re giving hope to those who may need it the most. You’re loving the thirsty in a way that changes lives.

You can buy your cards online here, or grab them in person at any REUNION gathering.

Clean water really is living water.

Photo courtesy of Living Water

thanksgiving garland

By Marianna Whitson

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food,

For love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

I cannot believe that it’s the week of Thanksgiving. Where did the year go? We were planning to have family up from the South to celebrate the day, but, as things sometimes go, those plans fell through. So instead, we are going to be giving thanks with some friends from our church community.

Boston is such a mix of people from all over the country and from even farther away; a mix of people who have always lived here, who plan to stay for a while, and who are just here for a year or two. It is inevitable that there will be many without family around them this week. So, extend an invitation for Thursday’s meal; share a post-Thanksgiving turkey sandwich this weekend; or be especially thankful if you are able to be with your family. Because family isn’t just who you are related to by blood, but who you spend your days with, who you relate to and who you connect with in spirit.

To make things a little more festive for our gathering, I decided to make a Thanksgiving-esque garland. I first saw this idea on Design*Sponge, but altered it for Turkey Day. It took me about an hour to do 18 pom-poms. You can totally adjust the number and the spacing based on where you’re going to hang the garland and what floats your boat.

I chose six fall colors of felt – it was on sale in pre-cut rectangles, four for $1. I already had the kitchen twine (a nice natural color), embroidery thread, scissors and a needle. So, yes, this was done for under $2. So cheap!

I started by cutting my felt length-wise, some with three strips to a sheet, others with four to a sheet. I then folded the strips in half and cut fringe down each side, leaving about a quarter-inch in the center. I folded them in half because it made this part go much faster! I tried two different fringe widths, and ended up liking the thinner fringe better. But play around with it! There’s no right or wrong way to go, and nothing has to be exact.

Once the fringe is cut, roll the strips up. Once the strip is fully rolled, thread the needle and stick it through the center of the pom-pom, leaving a good length of thread behind. I then stuck the needle back into the same hole it originally went in through, wrapping the string around half way as I did that. Once the needle was through a second time, I used the string lengths from both ends to wrap around the pom-pom several times. I then tied the two ends together securely. Do not fluff the pom-poms yet! *Although the original post says to tie a knot in one end of the string and tie it onto the garland, I found that it was easier for me to do it this way.

Once all the pom-poms are tied off, cut off some twine – the length you need plus some extra. Tie the twine around a pom-pom – I just used a regular knot. You may have to twist the pom-poms around to get the knot to lay flat. Continue down the twine until it’s as full as you want it. Once all the pom-poms are on there, then you can fluff them, separating the fringe pieces and ‘encouraging’ them into a rounder shape.

tie them all UNFLUFFED first

then fluff!

Advent Conspiracy: For the Ladies in Your Life

By Emily McKenna

So, you are all excited about advent conspiracy. What now? Here are a few ideas of homemade gifts that are doable for almost any level of DIYer. Proof? I have made each of them and I am no expert. You can do it!

HEX NUT BRACELET 

Friendship bracelets made a strong come back this summer.  In case you've missed it, layering numerous friendship-style bracelets is where it's at.  This is a hex nut friendship style bracelet. If you can braid, you can make this.

Check out the original tutorial on this blog for the basics, which I tweaked a bit to make what you see above. Instead of a three-strand braid I used a fishtail braid.  When I got to the hex nut section I switched to a three-strand braid.  Also, taping the ends of the strings/ropes makes threading the hex nuts much less frustrating. 

CANVAS TOTE

This is the best beach bag I have ever used.  It's huge.  There are so many colors of canvas and patterns.  Oh, the options.  The best part, though, is how fast it was to make.  Here is a link to the tutorial I used. 

REVERSIBLE TOTE

I like this bag because it has an interesting shape and you get two bags in one.  Here is a link to the tutorial and free pattern I used. 

A few tips:

1. Make sure the pattern prints to the correct size.  Mine was a little smaller than it should have been, which I realized after I cut the fabric.

2. I added a few inches of length to the straps after reading the comments on the tutorial I used.

3. I added pockets to both sides of the bag.

RUFFLE KNIT SCARF

Love me some ruffles.  I saw this scarf and thought to myself, "Self.  Don't even think about it."  Something about knit scares the heck out of me.  With the scarf calling my mother-in-law's name for Christmas and a craft night to boost my confidence, I tackled the scarf. Everyone in the room was surprised at how easy and quickly the ruffling went. If skills were bucks you would get a lot of bang for your buck with this handmade gift.  The embellishments took a little time but they really add to the ruffles.  I will be making one for myself.

Here is the link to the scarf tutorial.  A little warning: this specific scarf is a combination of three blogposts on the site.  She links to all of them but it's not all in a nice little package like other tutorials.  This scarf is totally worth the extra clicking, though. 

TRAVEL BAG

I made this travel bag for my friend’s birthday.  I was pretty intimidated when I set out to make it. (Zipper! Boxed shape! Lining!) It is surprisingly easy and quick.  It’s for an ambitious beginner sewer and up.  Here is the tutorial. 

Here is a short list of other awesome gifts for ladies that I are still on my to do list:

Braided Scarf 

Wrap Bracelet  
Braided Layered Scarf

Turban Twisted Headband