It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

When I was a little girl, we use to make paper chains to hang around the room at Christmas. I thought the kids would like to do this so I gathered them all together and away they went...



Roshana had more fun playing with them!



The end result, hanging behind our Christmas tree.

Another craft we did one afternoon was to paint each kids hand gold, then I pressed it to paper. I then cut around the hand, wrote their name and year behind it. Then I laminated it, punched a hole at the top and threaded ribbon through it. A lovely keepsake.

Our Jesse Tree

Christmas always seems rushed and busy and its so easy to lose our focus on the true meaning of Christmas ~ God’s plan of salvation for mankind with Jesus, His son’s birth. This year I decided that we would have a Jesse tree.

The idea of the Jesse Tree comes from Isaiah 11:1-9, where God promises a discouraged nation that the glory they remember from David’s time will come again. They will have another king from Jesse’s family, in whose reign the whole earth will know God. As a Christian, we see that promise fulfilled in Jesus, and so we use a Jesse Tree and decorate it with reminders of how God prepared the world for that kingdom.


I purchased the Jesse Tree download by Ann Voskamp titled ‘A glorious coming, The Jesse tree, celebration of Advent. It comes with all the devotions and ornaments ready to print off. I printed ours off and laminated them and punched holes in the top, then threaded ribbon to hang them. I found a good branch in the back yard and the children and I painted it gold. We then put it in a plant pot and put it on display in our lounge room.

We started on the 30th November and each morning or evening read a scripture verse and devotion for that day and then hung the ornament on the branch. This is done right up to Christmas day. It is amazing to see how God’s plan has unfolded since the creation of the world and how we now wait for Christ’s glorious return.