3 Reasons We Love Using a Jesse Tree During Advent

There are so many wonderful ways to celebrate Advent with your kids. You can light candles, read Christmas books, sing hymns, open calendars, bake cookies, and fill December with traditions your children will remember for years to come.

But one of my favorite Advent traditions is also one of the simplest: walking through a Jesse Tree together.

A Jesse Tree traces the story of Scripture from creation to the coming of Christ. Each day, families read a passage of Scripture and hang an ornament that represents a person, event, or promise from the biblical story. Day by day, kids watch the story unfold until they arrive at the birth of Jesus.

I love it because it gives us a simple rhythm for December while teaching our kids some really big truths about the Bible. Here are three reasons we keep coming back to the Jesse Tree during Advent.

1. It Shows Our Kids That Christmas Starts Long Before Bethlehem

When we think about the Christmas story, we naturally think about Mary and Joseph, angels and shepherds, and a baby lying in a manger. But the story of Christmas begins long before Luke 2.

In fact, to really understand Christmas, we have to go all the way back to Genesis.

When sin entered God’s good world, God promised that a Rescuer would come. As the story continued, God made promises to Abraham, established a covenant with Israel, raised up King David, and spoke through the prophets about the Savior who was still to come.

Generation after generation waited.

And then, at exactly the right time, Jesus was born.

The Jesse Tree helps our kids experience some of that waiting. Each day brings them one step closer to the manger while showing them that God had been preparing for the coming of Christ all along.

2. It Helps Our Kids Understand That the Bible Is One Big Story

Our children often encounter the Bible as a collection of individual stories. They learn about Noah and the ark, Abraham and Sarah, Moses and the Red Sea, David and Goliath, and Daniel in the lions’ den.

Those stories are important! But we don’t want our kids to know only the individual stories of Scripture. We want them to understand the Story.

The Bible tells one unfolding story of the God who created all things, the sin that broke His good creation, and God’s plan to redeem His people and restore what sin had broken.

That means Abraham’s story connects to David’s story. David’s story connects to the prophets. The prophets point forward to Christ. And all of it helps us understand why the baby born in Bethlehem is such incredibly good news.

A Jesse Tree gives children a visual way to watch those connections form. By Christmas, their tree is covered with reminders that all of Scripture has been leading them somewhere: to Jesus.

3. It Gives Our Family a Simple Rhythm of Scripture During a Busy Season

December can get full quickly. There are parties, school events, church activities, gifts to buy, cookies to bake, and plenty of wonderful traditions competing for our attention.

That’s one reason I love having a simple Advent rhythm already decided for us.

You don’t have to create an elaborate devotional experience every night. Read the Scripture passage. Talk about it together. Hang the ornament. Some nights might lead to great conversations. Other nights, your toddler might be upside down on the couch while you try to finish three verses!

That’s okay.

Faithful family discipleship doesn’t have to look impressive to be meaningful. We simply want to keep putting God’s Word in front of our children and showing them, again and again, the beauty of who God is and what He has done.

Make the Jesse Tree Part of Your Advent

That’s exactly why we created the Tiny Theologians Jesse Tree. We wanted to give families a beautiful, simple resource that helps children trace God’s plan of redemption through Scripture as they anticipate Christmas.

Each day brings you closer to the birth of Christ while helping your kids see the faithfulness of the God who keeps every one of His promises as you listen along with the Tiny Theologians podcast as TJ and Tory and all the neighborhood friends dive into Scripture together! Because when our kids understand the story that came before the manger, they can understand a little more clearly just how wonderful the arrival of Jesus really is!