How to Prepare for and Celebrate Your Best Advent & Christmas
The Season of Advent is Almost Here!
We have several other new features on the Joy of Advent website, like a free printable Preparing for Advent Workbook and a wealth of other resources at our new Christmas Shop.
If you haven’t yet subscribed to Joy of Advent’s daily readings, now is the time! We look forward to celebrating the Advent and Christmas seasons with you.
When and What is Advent?
Advent marks a season in the church (liturgical) year that has been celebrated since around the 5th century. Some have even dated it as early as 380 AD at the Council of Sargossa. The word Advent comes from the Latin, adventus, which means arrival, specifically the arrival of someone of importance. It was a translation of the Greek word, parousia. Parousia meant the coming of Christ, both as a human baby and His Second Coming. According to this article, originally, the first two Sundays of Advent celebration focused on the Second Coming, while the final two focused on Jesus’s birth. While that focus has largely been lost, we continue to celebrate Advent as a season of preparation—preparing our hearts for the coming of our Lord.
Interestingly, in 2022 the first Sunday of Advent will be November 27th, next year December 3, and the following year December 1. The reason for the changing dates? Advent always begins four Sundays before Christmas. Christmas being on the 25th of December means that Advent’s beginning changes, as does the length of the season.
The Joy of Advent daily readings are structured around the Jesse Tree, in part because the Jesse Tree is a beautiful, ancient tradition, and because it gives us the opportunity to pull a scarlet thread from the tapestry of Scripture.
What is the Jesse Tree?
One of our hand-made clay ornaments on our Jesse Tree
King David, son of Jesse, was one of the first and greatest kings of the nation of Israel. As with all kingdoms of old, David's reign eventually ended, and after generations, the house of Jesse was little more than a stump of a once-mighty tree.
And yet…
The roots of that stump drank from a cistern of promise. From the stump of Jesse's family tree would come a branch bearing fruit. Not just fruit, but life-giving fruit for all. The Jesse Tree is a symbol to remind us of a truth the Christian church once knew, but has since forgotten.
Only A Privileged few learned to read and write during this time in history. Fewer still learned to read Latin, the only language in which the Bible was then available. The common people depended on other means to learn about God's works. The stories of Scripture were lived, retold, and depicted in art. The first known Jesse Tree pictured in stained glass windows is found in France, circa 1140. You can read more about Advent and the 12 Days of Christmas here.
How have we celebrated with the Jesse Tree?
For many years we added tiny, handmade ornaments to an equally tiny faux pine tree. When the ornaments, sculpted from homemade salt dough, began to disintegrate, we re-made them with oven-bake clay and found a light-up cherry tree with branches just right for hanging. For the crafty among you, tutorials for all our clay ornaments are right here at Joy of Advent!
Printable Ornaments
Less crafty? We created printable ornaments to accompany each reading. One set uses our stained glass art, while the other uses the artwork from the children’s reading. Find them at our Christmas Shop!
Advent Calendars
For an even simpler celebration, we’ve created a printable Advent Calendar. Color in each day, or print stickers for an easy, hands-on activity.
A Glance Ahead …
If you’re following along with us and you’d like to craft Jesse Tree ornaments or simply want to see what figures we’ll cover, the Advent and Christmas topics and symbols are listed in the graphics below.
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