Wise Men ADVENTures (a Christ-centered alternative to Elf on the Shelf)

We have passed on the ever-so-popular Elf on the Shelf tradition because we just wanted something "more" that actually tied into our faith.  I'm glad we held off and never jumped on that bandwagon, because there is an option that relates to our faith - The 3 Wise Men searching for Jesus!  Yippeee!!

And, it's easy peasy too!  Every night after kids are in bed, the 3 Wise Men come to life and move around the house in search of the Newborn King.  So far, they are still searching and having no luck, but we know why - it's not Epiphany yet!  Plus the manger where Jesus will lay is still empty, since we are waiting for His arrival still.  The excitement and anticipation is just contagious!!

Here are some pictures and details of our Wise Men ADVENTures so far...


Our "3 amigos" (aka: 3 wise men) were hard to spot the first morning among all our wooden saints. They must have noticed the Light of Christ burning so brightly in their new friends and that's what led them there. We could almost hear them asking, "Have you seen a star?", "Where is the new king?"

The 3 kings are still searching for the King and the star.  Don't think they will find anything in there - lol!  Max was fascinated and just sat and sat and sat and sat multiple times throughout the day and kept telling me, "Mom, I see them moving!!"

The wise men must have been paying attention and noticed that we were watching our Jesse Tree Bible stories last night on our "idiot box", so after we went to bed, they wanted hints in finding Jesus and tried to make it turn on and work. I think they got a bit distracted. What do you think??

 **** if you are wondering what the "idiot box" is all about, then you HAVE to get to know this guy!

 Still searching for the Newborn King, and they didn't even make us any sweet treats.  What a tease...

 Attempting to scale a wall here....

Searching under our prayer table...

And, today they were up on our fireplace mantle....

 I am so thankful for this great idea and the excitement and anticipation that is brings to our Advent experience this year!! 

++Thank you, God!!++

2013 Jesse Tree ornament swap

What a wonderful treat to come home from the Festival of Trees to a box full of lovely ornaments for the upcoming Advent season!  We have incorporated the Jesse Tree devotion into our Advent plans for about 10 years now and LOVE how it tells our story of faith from the very beginning.  It's such a beautiful and appropriate way to ...w...a...i...t... out the season of Advent and take one day at a time.  So, when I saw that Karen was hosting a Jesse Tree ornament swap, I jumped on it and was thankful to get in!  It can be pretty time-consuming to make 35 different ornaments, but to make 35 of one single ornament and swap with 34 other people is totally doable!  It worked out great and I am so happy to have participated and even happier to see how lovely they turned out.  They are much too cute and adorable to keep to myself, so I thought I'd better share how we will be re-telling the story from Creation to the Nativity this Advent....

1. Creation (earth)              Genesis 1:  1-23

2.  Creation (man & woman)            Gen. 1:  24-31

3.  Fall of man             Genesis 3:  1-15, 20, 23

4.  Noah           Genesis 6:  5-20, 7: 1-23, 8: 1-17, 9: 1-13

5.  Abraham              Genesis 12:  1-5, 13:  14-16, 18:  1-10, 21:  1-3

6.  Isaac           Genesis 22:  1-14

7.  Jacob           Genesis 27:  41-44, 28:  10-17

8.  Joseph             Genesis 37:  3-4, 4:  17-28

9.  Moses                Exodus 2:  1-10, 3:  1-12

10.  Moses             7-14, 19, 32

11.  Ruth               Ruth 1:  1-16, 7-22

12.  Samuel                 1 Samuel 3

13.  Jesse               1 Samuel 16

14.  David             1 Samuel 17, 19:  1-2

15.  Solomon                 1 Kings 3

16.  Elijah                    1 Kings 17 & 18

17.  Elisha                   2 Kings 5

18.  Isaiah’s prophecy             Isaiah 8:  6-7

19.  Isaiah                 Isaiah 6

20.  Daniel              Daniel 6:  11-17, 19-25

21.  Jeremiah                Jeremiah 31

22.  Angel                 Luke 1

23.  Zechariah                         Luke 1
**this is the ornament I made**

24.  Mary, Mother of God                            Luke 1

25.  The Visitation                        Luke 1:  39-56

26.  Joseph                  Matthew 1

27.  Nativity               Luke 2

28.  Magi (star)                     Matthew 2:  1-12

**Next comes the O Antiphons.  You can read more about this tradition here and here and here....

29.  O Antiphon – O Wisdom 

30.  O Antiphon – O Lord of Lords 

31.  O Antiphon – O Flower of Jesse’s stem 

32.  O Antiphon – O Key of David 

33.  O Antiphon – O Radiant Dawn 

34.  O Antiphon – O King of all Nations 

35.  O Antiphon – O Emmanuel

What do you think?  They turned out great, huh?!  And, I have to admit that the kids and I were a little overwhelmed when we first opened the box, because only a few were labeled with what Bible story they went with (and I'm just as guilty as the majority because I never even labeled mine - doh!).  Anyways, it was fun figuring out which story they matched up with, but I sure hope I did it correctly.  If you notice that I have any switched, please let me know!  Thanks bunches!!