Our Jesse Tree Stories & Ornaments (This year, at least!)

Why mention that it's only for "this year", you ask? Well, a couple reasons:

1. The length of Advent is different from year to year. I've always known that Advent is the 4 Sundays that precede Christmas - but it never really dawned on me until recently, that this means the number of days in Advent can (and does) change from year to year. This year Advent is 28 days long - the longest it can possibly be - and that's because Christmas itself is on a Sunday. Next year though, Christmas will be on a Monday, which will mean that the season of Advent will only be 22 days long. So next year 6 of our ornaments will have to be cut from the rotation. Which ones will they be? Decisions, decisions. (Glad I have a year to figure it out.)
2. I reserve the right to change my mind. It's a work in progress! Already there are ornaments/stories that I don't like and want to swap out for ones that I do. (What do we call this? The woman's perogative? 😉 ) For instance, last year I made a baby Moses in a basket-boat ornament, which I actually really like! But in terms of story-telling, it makes much more sense to just tell the story of Moses at the burning bush (and use that ornament) and add another ornament/story in somewhere else.

Since this isn't a crafty how-to kind of post, I'll cut right to the chase. Wherever possible, I'm reading the story from the Jesus Calling Bible storybook, but when that fails then I'm just reading the story straight from the Bible. My audience is a 2 year old and a 4 year old though, so pictures really help, and I really like the artwork in the Bible storybook.

First Week of Advent

Sunday - Isaiah 11:1-10 - the Jesse tree stump
Monday - the Creation story - world
Tuesday - Adam, Eve and first sin - apple
Wednesday - Noah and the flood - ark
Thursday - God's promise to Abraham - field of stars
Friday - Abraham offers Isaac - ram
Saturday - Jacob & Esau - 2 twins

Second Week of Advent

Sunday - Jacob's ladder - the ladder (duh!)
Monday - Joseph - many-colored coat
Tuesday - Moses - burning bush
Wednesday - the first Passover - lamb
Thursday - God gives the 10 Commandments - 2 stone tablets
Friday - Samuel anoints Saul as king - crown
Saturday - David and Goliath - slingshot

Third Week of Advent

Sunday - Elijah and the widow - oil jar and sack
Monday - the story of Ruth - heart
Tuesday - the calling of Isaiah - tongs with coal (I still have to make this one!)
Wednesday - Jeremiah - tears
Thursday - Jonah - whale
Friday - Daniel captured by Babylon - plate of veggies
Saturday - Daniel and the lions' den - lion

Fourth Week of Advent

Sunday - Gabriel appears to Mary - lily
Monday - Mary visits Elizabeth - rose
Tuesday - John the Baptist - seashell
Wednesday - Joseph, protector of the holy family - hammer
Thursday - the wise men - star
Friday - Jesus, creator-redeemer: John 1:1-18 - ChiRho
Saturday - Jesus, born in a stable - manger

So there you have it! Does your family do a Jesse Tree? Are there stories/ornaments that I really should have included that I missed? I would love to hear your thoughts!

7 Ways I'm Adventing This Year - a 7QT

Last year Kendra shared an insightful post called "How to Advent in 3 Steps" and number 1 was a biggie:

"Don't Christmas yet."

Which should seem obvious, right? But it really got me thinking, how do we make the season of waiting (Advent) different from the season of celebrating (Christmas)? We are still just beginners when it comes to living liturgically; however, when I started to think about it, we are doing a few things that we haven't before. So just to prove to myself that we *are* doing something, here are the 7 ways we are making Advent different.

- 1 -

I'm getting off Facebook. I did this last year, and honestly, it was a relief. Like so many others before me, I found that 1) my social world didn't end, 2) it freed up time to do/contemplate other things, 3) I was also freed up from the "comparison bug". I really recommend it. (Plus when you return on, or after, Christmas, you return to everyone's Merry Christmas wishes - which is actually kinda nice!)

- 2 -

Img: Zephrinus

Making mass a thing. Last year we/I were such noobs that I completely forgot that going to daily mass is actually a most excellent way of preparing and praying for Christmas. (Confession: I also didn't know that the feast of the Immaculate Conception is a holy day of obligation. I do this year, so I will remedy that one for sure!) We won't be going *daily*, but we will definitely do the HDO and possibly one other feast day besides the Sunday masses.

- 3 -

We'll do our Jesse Tree again. Last year we used this book for our readings and for which ornaments to make. It was good for the first time around - but I didn't like that it didn't start with Adam & Eve in the garden. (Which, if one is using the Jesse tree to explain the story of salvation and/or Jesus' lineage, don't you think that leaving Adam and Eve out is a bit... well, odd?) So this year, I'm fixing that and adding a few more ornaments/stories in - since I'm not using any one resource to do this, maybe I'll write a post with all our ornaments/readings? Yes, maybe I'll do that (if for no other reason than giving me a place to have it all written down for future years!)

- 4 -

We'll also light Advent candles on Sundays. This will replace the candle that we (usually) light at dinner time. I found the beautiful candleholder above on Amazon and it's just the right size for our small home. I may even put some evergreen branches around it to make it more "wreath-like" (but I will not decorate with fake-sugared-fake-fruit. Just say no to fakeiness.)

- 5 -

St Lucia img: Heather Sleightholm

We'll observe a few feast days. We've more or less been observing Saint Lucia's since we moved into our home with a "Cookies, Cocoa and Christmas Lights" party. But this year, we'll also add in St Andrew's day on November 30th, and Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12th. We've got a book to read for each saint/day and a little activity or special food planned for that day too. I may or may not do anything for St Nicholas's day... it's just that 3 feast days in one month is already pretty ambitious for me. (I really should do it though, huh?) (I know, I know.) (We'll see...)

- 6 -

img: Blessed Is She

This one is just for me, and may turn out to be the most important preparation of all! I'm going to do my absolute best to get some morning time in, using this journal as a guide. I've heard the author, Elizabeth Foss, speak about Advent twice now - and her wisdom/perspective is so refreshing.

- 7 -

Ok, just kidding! There is no seventh thing. If the whole idea of Advent is to "prepare Him room" I probably shouldn't fill up the schedule with commitments! Right? Right. So, I'm going to go sign off FB, clear some space on the mantle and some space in my heart and begin the wait for the coming King. May you and yours have a blessed Advent.

Swing by Kelly's for some more!

Blessed Brunch!

Ever since Jenna posted her idea about Blessed Brunches, well, just about a year ago now, I've wanted to help host one. God, in His wisdom, knew that last year wasn't the year for me to do it - but I was priviledged to attend one in Berkeley - and I was so... blessed! (for lack of a better word).

But this year has been different! After hosting some lovely women for a weekly devotional during Lent (which just transformed our Lenten season), we all agreed that we would like to get together again. And I knew that a Blessed Brunch would be just the thing!

So today, on the Feast of the Visitation, we had our brunch. It was truly a spiritually refreshing time and a perfectly fitting way to celebrate this feast. This evening I sat down and wrote the women a little email to express my gratitude:

Hello Sisters in Christ,
I had a truly lovely time with you this morning, and I hope you did too! Thank you all for coming out, sharing food, and sharing your heart! When I got home this afternoon I was overwhelmed with your genorosity of spirit - I was grateful my littles went down for their naps with no trouble so I could sit and process and read a bit. Today's Gospel reading was the story of the Visitation, and what should I find in today's devotional, but this:
"But there’s another reality of the Visitation that was pressed hard in on me today, and it is that of Jesus. It would be easy to assume that Jesus was just along for the ride on Mary’s journey to Elizabeth, but that wouldn’t be true. Today’s Feast reminds us that it is as much about Jesus visiting Elizabeth and baby John as it is about Mary visiting Elizabeth.
"It is Jesus who compelled John to leap for joy in his mother’s womb. It is Jesus who prompts Elizabeth to praise and honor Mary. It is Jesus, quickening inside her, who compels Mary to sing her song of thanks to God.
"We, too, each live our own moment-to-moment Visitations... What is one way that Jesus has visited you this week? Make an act of gratitude for His visit to your heart."  That's what this afternoon felt like to me: yes, I met you. But I also met Christ in you. And I am grateful.

Let's do this again soon!
With affection,
Sara

Things I'd Share With You On FB (If I was on FB - vol. 2 - Lent edition)

I'd like to think that this is what the little guy was saying all along...

- 1 -

It's like Christmas over here! Opened the door to get the mail, and saw that I had received both the Offer It Up mug from Hatch Prints, and the gorgeous "Falling in Love" handlettering print from Holly Monroe. I had seen it first on Fr Jim Martin's instagram and immediately knew exactly where I wanted it to go in our home.

Happy St. Valentine's Day. "Fall in love. Stay in love. And it will decide everything." Pedro Arrupe, SJ

A photo posted by James Martin SJ (@jamesmartinsj) on Feb 14, 2016 at 7:34am PST

- 2 -

Been toying with the idea of sending the wee girl to preschool... why does this feel like Such. A. Big. Momentous. Thing? Like the rest of her future schooling depends on us making a good choice here? I feel so utterly in the dark about how to go about this; thankfully the preschools I've called thus far have been welcoming and kind - which, I also feel is a good thing. We'll see where this road goes...

- 3 -

One of my favorite blogger-authors wrote this post on egalitarian marriages earlier this week and it made me both excited and filled with dread. Excited because what she talks about is definitely needed, and filled with dread because I fear that mentioning it here, in the Catholic mom blogosphere, will get me kicked out of the club. (Is there such a thing?) Oddly enough, I wouldn't think twice about sharing it on FB, but that's because my FB circle of friends is different than the friends in this circle (haven't quite figured out how to make the 2 overlap). But like I said, this post is all about the things I would share there if I could. So... y'all should read this. (There. I said it. *as she cowers behind her new coffee mug*)

- 4 -

On the flip side, Kelly just wrote this post on "What to do when a friend follows a new path" that I just love and feel "safe" sharing about here - but probably would never post on FB, lest I come across as trying to prescribe to my friends there how they should treat me since leaving my old church for the Catholic church.  And I wouldn't even remotely want things to look that way! (I cringe just thinking about it)  But what I loved about Kelly's post was how she nailed some of my own thoughts and feelings that I've processed as I've watched friends go on new paths. Thoughts like:

"I felt like I was losing a member of my super secret club to a rival club."
"Now, rather than having someone to commiserate with, you feel unfairly left behind."

But even better she had sound advice for what to do:

"Take these feelings first to confession, and work extra hard on #5 for your own sanity"
"Remember now that when you talk about 'those people' who don’t do things exactly like you, you’re now talking about your friend. Perhaps people who choose another path aren’t so bad after all?"

True dat. Godspeed to us all, yes?

- 5 -

So, you know when you start to see something pop up over and over again in completely different settings you start to get the feeling God might be trying to tell you something? I had checked out "Wisdom Distilled from the Daily" by Joan Chittister because it was sort of based on a recommendation from another one of Kelly's posts. Actually, she had recommended reading The Rule of St Benedict - but that sounded too old and historical to me, so somehow I had found this and thought it would be easier to do.  But I forgot about reading it, in favor of reading something else (see below)... and then, yesterday when I opened up my email to see Emily P. Freeman's newsletter it was the very first book she shared that she was reading! Maybe Kelly and Emily run in the same circles - but not from my viewpoint. It was a little startling to see the book there in the newsletter... so maybe I should get on reading that, eh?

- 6 -

That other "more interesting" book I mentioned is by another favorite blogger-author, Nadia Bolz-Weber: Accidental Saints - Finding God in All the Wrong People. I love her. And her writing. One might describe her as a Lutheran-more-tatted-up-Anne Lamott-with a slightly "saltier" vocabulary. I  just loved reading her describe her first encounter with Catholics and the BVM:

"I knew Catholics existed, with their saints and candles and rosaries, and all their other exotic ways of being wrong. But now I had Catholic friends. And I couldn't stop staring at their Mary. She seemed luminescent and good and trustworthy and beautiful. And I was secretly jealous they got to have her."

I feel lucky we get to have her and Nadia.

- 7 -

One week of Lent down... how many more to go?  Ha ha. Just kidding. Though I just have to share that since deciding to do the Blessed Is She devotional for Lent with some other women from my church - I'm actually getting daily prayer and Bible time in. Daily! It feels good. Thanks to Blessed Is She for the workbook.

And thanks to Kelly for the link up! See you all around again soon...

What I Would Share on FB if I was on FB

Happy 2nd Week of Advent!

To... whoever you are who may be reading this. :)

I signed off of Facebook this Advent in the hopes of spiritually preparing myself for Christmas, but unfortunately, and all too predictably, I'm only finding out how much I *loved* to surf the Facebooks in my down moments. Today has been particularly hard, hence why I'm writing this blog post. ;)

So what have I been doing/reading since I'm not on FB? Well, let me play a little show and tell...

-1-

Expecting During Advent: The Tender and Terrifying Truth

This post by Laura is lovely. It closes with some words by Madeleine L'Engle that I found particularly challenging: "Yet Love still takes the risk of birth." Such a good meditation on the darker side of Advent.

-2-

I Don't Care How You Advent

Bonnie's post was the first I saw that touched on the theme of "You Don't Have To Do It All" and I liked how she said it. But apparently it didn't sink in because I still needed to read

-3-

Baby Steps to Living Liturgically

Kelly's post. It was almost like she stepped into my head:

"Okay, you’re married, have a young family and after stumbling across some Catholic mommy blogs you want to celebrate the liturgical year like Kool and the Gang. You’ve bought some Tomie dePaola books, downloaded coloring pages, and attempted a new recipe but thus far your efforts only lead to tears of frustration and feelings of being the worst Catholic in the world..."

So where we differ here is that I haven't bought any Tomie dePaola books. I've bought this one though.  And this one. And this one. But not any of Tomie's... yet. So the paragraph above doesn't describe me at all. Except that it does. So that's why I read it two times over and encourage you to do the same.

-4-

Finally: The Story of Jake the Dog

This lady cracks me up. NFP dog!! HA!!

-5-

How a Conservative-Led Australia Ended Mass Killings

One of these links is not like the others... Seriously, though. We gotta do something about this.

-6-

If I Believe in Water But Will Not Drink...

I think what I liked about this one was that I was 1) surprised by who wrote it (it just didn't sound like her at all) and 2) I was challenged (again) to make use of the sacraments. Confession: I need to go to Confession. I don't know how to make it work with my two littles, but if I can wrangle them to Mass by myself then I can (and should) find a way.

-7-

Instagram

Well, I have to get my social media fix somehow! (sigh.) ;)

Thanks to Kelly for hosting SQT yet again and letting me tag my little blog along too...

Hail Mary...

Hail Mary, full of grace

The Lord is with thee.

Blessed are thou amongst women

and blessed is the fruit of they womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

Pray for us sinners

Now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

As best as I remember it, it was a dark December night. My little one month old girl was up - time to nurse again - and as I sat in the rocking chair I had the sudden realization:

God was once this small.

And Mary had held Him. Nursed Him. Rocked Him to sleep.

My God! My God... I saw then, truly, how much He had humbled Himself to take on human flesh. My own girl was born 7 pounds, 11 ounces... was Jesus born bigger? Or smaller? Did the Creator of the World sleep better in it than my little one? Or did He cry for the Heavenly Home He was no longer in? How did Mary care for our Savior?

Oh, Mary... you didn't even know what was in store for you. But you said "Yes" to God.

I can only imagine God chose her because she was growing in virtue and grace - and that as she responded to each new chapter in the life of her Son, she continued to grow in grace. And I know she faced a lot of hardships! But she started off just like me... with a little baby who needed so much.

Oh Mary, pray for me. I need the grace you have. Being a mother is so. hard.

And then I said something in my heart that, prior to that moment, I had only ever recited in my Catholic education class:

Hail Mary, full of grace...

It was the second revelation that night: Mary understands... she understands me.  What a gift! You see, up until then I had only given mental assent to the verse that said that Jesus understands us in all our weakness. (Heb 4:15)  But it was all mental. When I was agonizing over how I had been rejected by a high school crush, I had to remind myself that even though Jesus may not have been rejected by a love interest, he was rejected by many more  Intellectually I understood that the root feeling I had was the same as Jesus' - but because our circumstances weren't the same, this thought process never brought me comfort.  (Plus, one could even argue that he was rejected by all his love interests because He loved the whole world! So there. I'll see your rejection and raise you by 7 billion).

But that night, through Mary, I finally felt the comfort of being understood. I didn't have to do any theological jumping through hoops to figure out how to match my experience with Jesus' - He gave me Mary. She was a first time mother - I was a first time mother. I know she got it. I felt such peace.

And now, when my little girl lashes out against her brother...
... when my little boy cries and cries while being rocked to sleep
... when I am so weary I want to cry in a heap on the floor, but still need to make dinner

I say that Hail Mary again and I am still comforted.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow...!