Jesse Tree Ornament Swap (For the Crafty and the Non-Crafty!)

Wow!  It's September already!  As I mentioned yesterday, September is always my cue to start thinking about Advent.  I'm not sure why, but it just happens that way.  Last year we began a new family Advent tradition -- we used a Jesse tree.  

A Jesse tree is a tree used during Advent.  Ornaments that represent Jesus' ancestors and tell the story leading up to his birth are placed on the tree.  About one ornament per day is placed on the tree, along with a Bible reading related to the ornament.  (Or, if you're like us, you get overwhelmed with life, miss days, and then hurry to catch up with intermittent 3-4 ornament blasts!)

I'm not sure why we had never done this before.  I think it is probably because it wasn't part of my Lutheran school childhood traditions, and so I just never incorporated it in our Advent practices. However, last year, I ran across a post from Jessica at Housewife Spice inviting participation in a Jesse Tree ornament swap.  I, like Jessica, have never been a huge fan of the "print out" paper Jesse tree ornaments, but who has time to create 32 different ornaments?  So, since I'm not nearly sensible enough to avoid adding to my already full plate, I jumped in, and it was a blessing.  

Back then, I mentioned the possibility of hosting an ornament swap for readers of Liturgical Time and some folks expressed interest.  Well, since I still have not acquired much common sense, I'm still willing to do this crazy thing!  What we will need though, is 32 crazy people who are willing to make 32 of the same ornament and then mail them to me along with somewhere around $12. for postage.  (I'll have to enlist the help of the lady at the post office to help me estimate what it will cost to ship each of you your set.) I will then sort all of the ornaments into 32 separate sets and package each set into one of 32 boxes and mail one set to each participant.  

The ornaments need not be fancy.  They would need to be hand crafted out of any craft supplies that suit your fancy.  As long as it is not moving of its own volition or perishable, we'll be thrilled! A Pinterest search provides lots of ideas.  I will provide a list of ornaments; each participant will choose one of them.  This was our ornament from last year's swap.  There are many other sources for ornament ideas online.

Here are some simple ornaments, from Elizabeth Foss, made with felt.
Here are some extra fancy ideas for the more crafty among us.
Here is a whole set of tutorials.  You'll find all the ornaments in the index on the right sidebar.
Some extra cute kid created ornaments are here.  Kid created ornaments are welcome!  :)

So, this the the call for interested participants!  If you think this is something you would like to do, please leave a comment below, or, leave me a message on our Facebook page or at the Veil Shop. I'll need your email to contact you.  You can either leave it in your comment, or send it to liturgicaltimeveilshop (at) gmail (dot) com.  Remember, you would have to create 32 identical copies of the exact same ornament, but would receive one of each of the 32 ornaments that the whole group produced for your very own Jesse tree.  If 32 people are interested, then we'll be off and running and I'll post details as we go!

Let's do this, because it's not like every one of us isn't crazy-busy enough already!

Blessings!

~Michelle

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Getting Ready for Advent: The Wreath