2013 Jesse Tree: Purpose

Have you ever reached Christmas Day and discovered...well...it's lost its glamour? You've been celebrating since the end of November, you've been preparing for it for up to 3 months, you've seen the store displays since Halloween, and now you're happy it's almost over.
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I agree that our culture has lost the concept of fasting and feasting. When we indulge all the time in preparing for a celebration, then the celebration itself loses meaning. Part of the solution for that in our family is our Jesse Tree. We still eat Christmas candy throughout December; we still enjoy the parties spread out between the end of November and the beginning of January; we still celebrate both before and after the actual Christmas Day. But the simple act of decorating our Jesse Tree and watching it transform into a Christmas tree helps us transform the celebrations before December 25 into celebrations of Advent--of the coming of Christ, of the waiting for His arrival, of the preparing for His entrance. The focus in our family is on the anticipation. It is on the thousands of years when humanity needed a Savior and hadn't received one yet. It is on the hope of His return. It is on the knowledge that He will come again to bring us to Heaven, just as He came first to a humble stable in Bethlehem.
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Our tree is up and ready to begin our Advent celebration this Sunday. The paper version of our ornaments are printed out and ready to color. Our daughters are as just as excited for Advent to begin as they are for Christmas to arrive in a few more weeks. Only 2 more days now!
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Linked with Modest Monday