Today’s topic is the Christmas Tree, but the homily at Mass today took me in a slightly different direction. I am working on evolving some memorable holiday traditions for my kids to look back on and maybe pass to their kids some day. We do some stuff that they really enjoy – the Advent candles, elf, special trip for the live Christmas tree on the first Sunday of Advent… Many of ornaments have stories or special meaning and I try to buy something new every year for the Christmas tree. Next year I also want to start the St. Nick tradition of leaving small gifts in their shoes.
At Mass they talked about the Jesse Tree tradition. Each day focuses on a Bible verse related to Jesus’ family tree, and traces the history through the generations. The tree has a small ornament for each day – it’s typically a tabletop tree and a family activity. The kids can make the ornaments and I think we could even make some kind of tree together. I’m going to find a book and make sure that I have everything lined up to introduce this tradition next year. I think the kids will be old enough to understand the stories and follow along, especially Alexander.