The tree of Jesse

"There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, 

and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit." 

Isaiah 11: 1

In the corner of our dining room, we have a large bare branch; this is our Jesse Tree. Each day during Advent we make an ornament based on a Bible story, going all the way from the creation to the birth of Jesus.

So far we have:

1. A round disc with a picture of a white-bearded man juggling planets (the creation)

2. An apple from our garden (Adam and Eve - the first sin)

3. A rainbow (God's promise to Noah)

4. Lots of gold stars cross-stitched on a blue background (God's promise to Abraham)

  (although my mother, who embroidered it, doesn't think it's good enough, and suggests we get rid of it and just hang lots of wooden stars all over the tree instead - mem. to self: find some wooden stars!)

5. A little collage of a ram caught in a thicket (the almost-sacrifice of Isaac)

6. A gold-painted string-and-matchsticks rope ladder (Jacob's vision)

7. A very natty mini multi-coloured coat made by my mother, complete with mini coat-hanger! (Joseph)

8. Another collage, this time of a bush surrounded by fire (the calling of Moses) 

9. A wooden carving of a sheep that my father brought me from the Czech Republic (the passover lamb) 

10. Two fimo stone tablets, complete with ten commandments! (Well, ten roman numerals anyway...)

11. A painted fimo ram's horn trumpet, officially called a "shofar", for the fall of Jericho (this is the effort I am most proud of!)

12. A gold crown for the beginning of the Kingdom of Israel (Unfortunately I copied this from a picture of English kings' crowns and so I put a cross on the top, forgetting that that's christian, which the Israelite kings certainly weren't! Oops!)

13. A gold shepherd's crook, taken from our PlayMobil St Nicholas (David, the shepherd king)

Tomorrow will be a stone altar for Elijah's 'Battle with the Ba'als'. Now how am I going to make that...?

My hand-made shofar