More of the basic procedures with the Advent Jesse Tree

Evening by evening, after you light the candle(s) near your Jesse Tree, consider doing the following:

·      Either recite this brief prayer:

o  Parent: You, O Lord, are my lamp.

o  Children: My God, you make my darkness bright.

or try singing an Advent hymn (you could look for online versions of any of the following: "Come, O come, Emmanuel"; "Come, thou long-expected Jesus"; "The King shall come when morning dawns"; "On Jordan's bank the Baptist's cry")

·      Read the day’s story aloud to your children. As they get older, you may want to switch to reading the original stories from the Bible.

·      Ask one of the children to hang the appropriate symbol.  If you have several children, you can alternate who lights candles, who hangs a symbol, who does the closing blessing, who puts out the candle.  Try to include everyone each evening.

·      After hanging the day’s symbolic ornament, say the following brief blessing:

o  Parent: In this Advent season, Lord, help us to hear and heed these stories as we prepare for the Holy Birth on Christmas.

o  Child: God bless us all. Amen.

·      Put out the candles, unless you want to leave them burning until bedtime and ask one of the children extinguish them then.

Note: Don’t feel you have to do every reading, or that you have to follow this particular set of rituals. Find your own comfort level, using this simply as a resource to develop your own family activities.