Elf On The Shelf Celebrates Jesus

Raising children is hard. There are so many choices to be made, i.e breastmilk vs. formula; fastfood vs. homecooked; Jesus vs. Santa; public school vs. private school. You get my point.

As a Christ follower, I try to make each decision based on what God thinks, his Word says, and wisdom. Some decisions are easy, but others are not. Jesus vs. Santa isn't a black and white choice. Unless you're reading a different Bible than me. {insert humor here} 

This year we decided to introduce "Santa" using Jen's idea that "there's a secret to Santa, and when you think you've figured it out, come and let me know". You can read more about Jen's idea here. With "Santa", we decided to start the Elf on the Shelf tradition, but with a twist.  As Christians, we celebrate Jesus' birthday first, but also want to participate in American traditions during the Christmas season. "we are in the world, but not apart of the world"-John 17 

I decided our Elf would teach the kids about God and Jesus, by using our church's preschool biblical truths, and playing hide and seek games. This allows our children to participate in the Elf on the Shelf game, and making Jesus bigger than Santa. To get started, I created a calendar of the 5 biblical truths with notes of what the Elf would do each day, an introduction letter from Santa's elves, and laminated 5 biblical truths cards for the Elf to bring each day (God made everything; God is charge of everything; God is good; Jesus came to save sinners; God wants to talk with us). {hey, to make money, I work as a Director of Operations...it's only natural for me to make this Elf game EASY}

We've had fun so far celebrating Jesus with our Elf, Buddy! And I'll share our calendar and info for you if you'd like to download. Enjoy! {download here}

Treasuring Christ {at Advent}

This is our 3rd year to celebrate the Advent season by spending time in God's Word through our "Jesse Tree Ornament Activity". I love this Jesus-centered activity and the way it tunes our hearts to focus on the Gospel and treasure Christ as we prepare for Christmas!

Each day we've opened our Jesus Storybook Bible {buy this Bible if you have kiddos! Trust me, it's that GOOD!} and read God's Story of His heart {that He is good and does good}, and listened to the whispers of God's secret plan...our Hope and Treasure. 

Day #15, "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
    and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit." - Isaiah 11:1

Day #16 {my favorite!}, "The people of Nineveh listened to Jonah, and they started loving God. They learned to do what God said and to stop running away from him--just like Jonah. Many years later, God was going to send another Messenger with the same wonderful message. like Jonah, he would spend three days in utter darkness. But this Messenger would be God's own Son. He would be called "The Word" because he himself would be God's Message. God's Message translated into our own language. Everything God wanted to say to the whole world --in a Person." JSBB p.169

I cherish these 25 days of treasuring Christ and reflecting on His Word! 

{click here for more information on the Jesse Tree Activity and daily scripture reading for Advent}

Joy to the World!

Our house is officially ready for Christmas, despite this Texas heat! It's still high 70s y'all! What the hey honk?!

Inside our house it feels like low 50s with the cozy Christmas decor and Christmas music playing day and night! Our decor is simple, but sings our heart's desire to celebrate Christ's birthday.

 My DIY-mirror turned chalkboard is our focal point this year on our mantle.

The first thing you see when you enter our home is our Jesse Tree Advent Calendar. Love counting down the days until Christmas with a Jesus-centered activity!

{Every day we will put a Jesse Tree Ornament on the Jesse Tree}

 On the inside of our front door we have our Christmas card wreath, and I added a glittery deer just for my hubby {well, the glitter was for me}.

 We had so many deers around during the fall for Caleb's birthday that I just had to add one for Christmas! ha!

And, our mantle...

I used the wood slices from Caleb's birthday, I spray painted pine cones that my mom found {yes, they're real}, used my Silhouette machine to cut out a nativity scene, and printed the lyrics of "Joy to World" using photoshop.

Yes, my tree is only half decorated. I did decorate the entire tree, but it only lasted 24 hours.

A certain toddler {not going to name names} does not recognize the difference between ornaments and toys.

Our outside is simple, and hopefully next year we will do more decorating outside {I want to get rid of all our color lights and do something different...anyone want some lights?}.

Yes, joy to the world indeed! That's our house this year. What does yours look like? I need some Christmas decorating inspiration!

Linked to: The Lettered Cottage,Ten June,

Jesus Centered Christmas Activity

My favorite Christ-centered Christmas activity is our Jesse Tree Activity! Yes, it's October and I'm talking about Christmas, but I have a very good reason. If you want to do this activity for Christmas you'll need plenty of time to prepare!!

Three years ago, I was looking for a gospel-centered activity to incorporate into our Christmas advent tradition. That's when I found "Jesse Tree Ornaments". The ornament activity can either be done daily during the entire 40-day Advent celebration, or shortened to 25 days. I chose the 25 day Jesse Tree Activity, so that I could turn the ornaments into an Advent Calendar.

How the "Jesse Tree Activity" works:

• Make 25 ornaments and decide how to display them
• Each ornament represents a character from the Bible and has a correlating Scripture
• Each day you take an ornament and read the daily scripture {we do this as a family after dinner}
• After reading the verse, hang the ornament on a Christmas Tree {we have a mini-tree set aside just for our "Jesse Tree"}

Why we love the "Jesse Tree Activity":

• It's a Christ-centered daily activity!
• It walks through scripture from the Old and New Testament, that shows God's sovereignty and how the plan from the beginning was always Jesus {the gift of salvation through faith in Jesus}
• It makes Christmas more than just a day, but a 25 day celebration! Doesn't Jesus deserve that?!

This year I added something new to the Jesse Tree Activity...The Jesus Storybook Bible!
I LOVE reading God's Word from Caleb's Jesus Storybook Bible, so I created an updated version of this activity by using daily readings from the Jesus Storybook Bible. 

I highly encourage you to give this gospel-centered Advent activity a try this Christmas, so I'm giving you the ability to download everything for FREE! Let me know if you try it and what you think!! 

Jesse Tree Activity Schedule {daily readings, ornaments}:

Download for FREE here

Jesse Tree Activity using The Jesus Storybook Bible {not every verse is found in the Jesus Storybook Bible, so you'll need to use your personal Bible as well}:

Download for FREE here

Ordering Pre-Made Ornaments:

• email Larry Lindahl at: llindahl@cableusa.com, with the subject "Jesse Tree Ornaments", for a set of 25 unfinished wood ornaments {this is who I used, and then painted the ornaments myself--$15/set}
• visit Larry Lindahl Woodcrafts' store {you might recognize him from the Martha Stewart show}

  Linked with: Tatertots and Jello, Hey Mommy, Chocolate Milk, Positively Splendid