1st Sunday of Advent
MEMORIZE:
Grades K-3: “You are my hope,
Lord; my trust, GOD, from my
youth.” Psalm 71:5
Grades 4-6:
(See inside cover.)
MONTH OUTLINE:
Lesson 1: Death, Judgment, Resurrection
Lesson 2: Heaven, Hell, Purgatory
Lesson 3: Hope
Advent Activities
FOCUS:
The activities in this packet
will help prepare your family to
celebrate the birth of the
Savior.
SUPPLIES NEEDED:
varies with each activity
BEFORE YOU BEGIN:
Read activity instructions to
see which ones will enhance
your family’s celebration of
Advent and Christmas.
Week of November 29, 2015
Waiting … Wondering … Hoping … Preparing for the
celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ! This is Advent, a time of joyful expectancy, a
time to concentrate our teaching efforts on the virtues
of kindness, patience, humility, and joy in the hearts
and lives of our children, and to help them to realize
what a privilege it is to know Jesus, God the Son.
In this time of preparation for the Christmas season, the world keeps many
people occupied with everything from gift purchasing to parties and photos
with Santa. Television and secular radio programming also add to the
commercialism of Christmas. How do we as Catholics teach our children
about Advent and its place in a world that ignores John the Baptist’s cry to
“Prepare the way of the Lord”? We would do well to look to our Blessed
Mother, Mary, whose “yes” to God reveals her self-sacrifice. Through the
example of her obedience, we can come to know the person of Jesus.
Knowing Him will move us to be like Him, and this is the most important thing
that we can pass on to our children. He came to teach us how to love and
because He is Love; we cannot find a better teacher!
With this in mind, Mother Teresa’s simple prayer is a great beginning to your
Advent season:
“Teach us to love as You love, Jesus. Amen.”
BRIGHT IDEA:
Help your family
refrain
from
celebrating until
the
feast
of
Christ’s birth on
December 25.
Advent is a
unique season, and celebrating
it fully will make your
Christmas celebration even
richer!
When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year,
she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah,
for by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior’s first
coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second
coming.200
By celebrating the precursor’s birth and
martyrdom, the Church unites herself to his desire: “He must
increase, but I must decrease.”201
Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) 524
200
201
Cf. Rev 22:17.
Jn 3:30.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FAMILY
FORMATION
©2015
Advent—A New Beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
The Jesse Tree and Symbols . . . . . . . . . . 2
Feast of Saint Nicholas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Advent Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
MISSION:
Family Formation is designed to
help parents respond to the
Church’s call to be “the first and
foremost educators of their
children”* and to help families grow
in the transforming love of God by
understanding and living the
Catholic Faith.
Memory Verse
Grades 4-6
Act of Hope
O my God, relying on Your infinite goodness
and promises, I hope to obtain pardon of my sins,
the help of Your grace, and life everlasting,
through the merits of Jesus Christ,
my Lord and Redeemer. Amen.
English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for the United
States of America copyright© 1994, United States Catholic Conference,
Inc.—Libreria Editrice Vaticana. English translation of the Catechism of
the Catholic Church: Modifications from the Edition Typica copyright© 1997,
United States Catholic Conference, Inc.—Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
Nihil Obstat: Rev. Michael Byron
Censor Librorum
Imprimatur: † Most Rev. Harry J. Flynn
Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis
January 23, 2007
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*Gravissimum Educationis, 3
Advent - A New Beginning
Each Advent is a new beginning and a new chance to allow Jesus to enter
more deeply into our hearts. Jesus has so many special graces for us
if we can only purify our hearts and divest ourselves of all the secular
distractions, to be able to hear what He has to say to each one of us.
(See CCC 524.)
Advent is really a time of preparation and a waiting on three levels:
 We prepare our hearts to celebrate the birth of Jesus our
Savior over 2,000 years ago.
 We celebrate His coming in the present; in the Mass, in our
hearts, and in each other.
 We also celebrate and prepare ourselves for His second coming
in glory, at a time unknown to us. At this time we will see Him
face-to-face, peace will reign, right will triumph, evil will be
conquered forever, and we will live eternally in resurrected
bodies radiant with God's glory!
How can we make the holy and glorious celebration real to our children—
and to ourselves? How can we push away the demands and distractions
of the secular voices in this sacred season? Let us celebrate with our
senses, as God became man through the flesh. Let us create holy
things that will remind us of the holy event we celebrate.
Advent Activities, Page 1
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The Jesse Tree
We all love to know who our ancestors were. Who were those people
who came before us? What were they like? Where did they come
from? How did they dress? What did they do for fun? What was the
world like when they lived? How am I like them?
As Christmas approaches, we hear from the Scriptures about our first
parents, Adam and Eve. We hear about the ancestors of Jesus. Who
are the people on Jesus' family tree? (Look up Matthew 1:1-18.)
Jesus' family tree is called the Jesse Tree, named for a man called
Jesse who lived in Bethlehem hundreds of years before Jesus was
born. Each person on the Jesse Tree had a special place and job at a
particular time. Some were born hundreds of years before Jesus;
others were born shortly before His birth. Each prepared the world
for Jesus in a unique way.
The Jesse Tree activity helps us to remember that the way each
person lived his life represents something special to Jesus' coming.
One of Jesse's sons was named David, who was chosen by God to
become the king of Israel. King David and his descendants ruled over
Israel for many years.
Jesus was born into the royal family of King David. Abraham, Isaac,
and their descendants, Jesse and David, and their children and
grandchildren were ancestors of Jesus. They were faithful to God!
In the book of Isaiah 11:1 it says,
"But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse,
and from his roots a bud shall blossom."
Advent Activities, Page 2
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By decorating a Jesse Tree during Advent, we remember Jesse and all
the people who helped prepare the world for the birth of Jesus. A
Jesse Tree is decorated with ornaments associated with Old
Testament events from the beginning of creation to the birth of
Jesus.
Parents: there are many different ways to make a Jesse Tree
to highlight the different ancestors of Jesus:
 The symbols (provided on Pages 6-10) can be used as patterns, transferred to paper
or felt, and then cut out.
 Or, you may wish to color the paper they are on, and laminate them using clear
contact paper.
 If you are really ambitious, you could wood-burn or paint them onto round pieces of
wood, and drill a hole at the top for a string or ribbon.
As a family, spend an evening making the ornaments. Make sure everyone in the family gets a turn
making one. Place them in a basket, and beginning with the first Sunday of Advent, choose the
corresponding symbol. Read the Scripture, and hang it on the Christmas tree. As you hang each
symbol, give a brief explanation of it, or read a short section
from the Bible about the person the symbol represents. Say
this prayer:
"Our Father, You are God for all time.
You sent Your Son, Jesus, to be planted
like a tree of life in Your Church and be born of Mary.
We ask that You bless this Jesse Tree
so that it may bring peace and hope to all who see it.
Amen."
 Instead of hanging the symbols on the Christmas tree,
you could use a branch placed in an inverted flower pot in
which the branch is secured with clay or play dough—or a
branch drawn on a large piece of construction paper.
 Or: make an Advent banner as pictured here and
described by Mrs. Pauline on Page 4.
 Another fun idea is to trace the symbols onto shrinkable
plastic (Shrinky Dinks is a familiar brand). After coloring and
shrinking them according to the manufacturer’s instructions, hang them on a wooden dowel
tree. Preparing only one week’s worth at a time keeps it fresh and new all throughout Advent.
Advent Activities, Page 3
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From the Desk
of Mrs. Pauline
Our Jesse tree has helped to make our family
celebration of Advent special and holy, and it
has enabled us to be consistent in our nightly
Advent prayers. Each night, after one of our
children has lighted the Advent wreath and we
have sung an Advent song, another child hangs
the symbol for that day on the Jesse Tree. Then
someone reads the Bible passage, and we ask
questions and talk about the reading.
Questions are good for making sure everyone is listening, and we ask questions
gauged to the ages of our children. We end with a prayer and another Advent
song. Then one of the little ones blows out the candles.
Because our symbols kept getting misplaced or shuffled, I made an Advent
wall hanging, with a pocket to hold each symbol until it gets hung on the tree.
No more hunting through toy boxes for the missing symbols! It is very much
like an Advent calendar, with the excitement of finding the hidden symbols
each day and trying to identify the story that goes with each one before we
read it.
In a secular world, where Christmas means Santa Claus and presents, hustle
and money, our Jesse Tree serves to remind us what it is really all about—
Come, Lord Jesus!
On the previous page is a picture of one kind of Advent banner
which holds our Jesse Tree symbols. A picture of a candle is
appliquéd on pockets which hold the Sunday symbols; the
first, second, and fourth one are purple, the third one is
pink (Laetare Sunday). The two pockets at the bottom
hold the symbols for Christmas Eve and Christmas
Day.
Advent Activities, Page 4
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The Jesse Tree Symbols
Each Jesse Tree decoration symbolizes either a prophecy of the coming
Messiah or an ancestor of Jesus. Here is a list of some of the symbols:
Apple: (Genesis 2:15-17; Genesis 3:1-24) An apple has been a symbol of humanity's
rejection of God's love, and also the sin (happy fault) which caused our need for a
Redeemer.
Noah's Ark: (Genesis 6:11-22; 8:6-12) Noah saved the lives of some of his family
and all creatures in the ark. The ark is symbolic of Christ's Church in which our
spiritual lives are directed and saved. Noah was savior of his people. Jesus is
Savior of the world.
Jacob's Ladder: (Genesis 27:41-28:22) In Jacob's dreams, he saw a ladder
reaching between earth and heaven, with angels on it ascending and descending.
Christ, the Savior, is the ladder once again uniting heaven with earth.
Joseph's Coat: (Genesis 37:1-36) Joseph's coat, a symbol of royalty, is also
expressive of a father's love, causing rejection by his brothers to the point that
they sold him for 20 pieces of silver. Joseph prefigures Christ, loved by His Father,
rejected by His followers, and sold by one of them for 30 pieces of silver.
Tablets of the Law: (Exodus 2 and 3; 20:1-17) On Mount Sinai, God gave the Tablets of
the Law to Moses. These Old Testament Laws (the Ten Commandments) given to
Moses are fulfilled in Christ's New Testament Law of Love.
Carpenter's Tools: (Matthew 1:18-25) Joseph, a carpenter and the husband of
Mary, realized in a dream that Mary would become the mother of Jesus.
Lily: (Luke 1:26-38) This flower represents Mary’s sinlessness, or her Immaculate
Conception, in order to be made worthy to become the mother of Jesus.
Chi-Rho: (John 1:1-19) This symbolizes Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer.
Yourself: Design a symbol of yourself (blank templates are provided on Page 11).
Write your name on the symbol and decorate it. Hang your symbol on the Jesse
Tree to show that those who look for Jesus in their lives are part of the family
tree of Jesus.
Advent Activities, Page 5
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Genesis 1:24-28
1 Samuel 16:1-13
Apple
Noah’s Ark
Genesis 2:15-17 and
3:1-24
Genesis 6:11-22 and
8:6-12
Genesis 12:1-7 and
13:2-18
Genesis 22:1-14
Advent Activities, Page 6
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Genesis 27:41-28—28:22
Isaiah 9:2-7
Tablets of the Law
Exodus 2 and 3 and
20:1-17
Genesis 37:1-36
2nd
Wednesday
1 Samuel 3:1-21
Numbers 6:22-27
Advent Activities, Page 7
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1 Samuel 16:14-23
2 Kings 5:1-27
Isaiah 6:1-8
Advent Activities, Page 8
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Jeremiah 31:31-34
Nehemiah 13:10-22
Hebrews 1:1-14
Luke 1:5-25
Luke 1:26-38
Luke 1:39-56
Advent Activities, Page 9
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Matthew 3:1-12
Matthew 1:18-25
Matthew 2:1-12
Luke 2:1-20
Chi-Rho
John 1:1-19
Advent Activities, Page 10
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Advent Activities, Page 11
©2015 Church of Saint Paul (763) 757-1148
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Feast of Saint Nicholas (December 6)
The feast of Saint Nicholas is a very important day to celebrate during
Advent, since Saint Nicholas is the patron of children and the real
man behind the stories of Santa Claus. It is exciting for children to
learn that he was a real person, a bishop of our Church who loved and
cared for little children. It is even more exciting for them to learn
that he is alive in heaven and hears all their prayers.
The Pauline Family Celebrates
We actually celebrate on the eve of the feast of Saint
Nicholas, December 5, when we reenact the story of
“Saint Nicholas and the Three Dowries.” In a nutshell,
Saint Nicholas heard of three daughters who were going
to be sold by their father because he had no money for
their dowries. In the darkness of the night, Saint
Nicholas threw a bag of gold through their window for
the oldest daughter, and subsequently repeated his
generous act for the other two on following nights.
It was on the third night that the father hid to see who their generous benefactor
was, and discovered it was Bishop Nicholas. They rejoiced and thanked him for
these gifts which had saved them from a life of misery. This story is fun to act
out with all ages, sometimes very solemnly, and at other times with great
hilarity!
A traditional Saint Nicholas Day treat from Holland is Speculatius, which is
cut in the shape of the good bishop himself. The recipe and instructions are on
the following page.
Our children hang their stockings on the eve of Saint Nicholas’ feast day,
remembering his generosity and humility in giving gifts, and remembering
that he expected nothing in return, not even thanks. We can pray to him for
this same spirit of giving as we give gifts of love at Christmas. For the last few
years, stockings for Mom and Dad have also mysteriously appeared on the
morning of Saint Nicholas’ Day, alongside the others!
Advent Activities, Page 12
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Speculatius
1 cup butter
1 cup shortening
2 cups packed brown sugar
4 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
3 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Cream together butter, shortening, and brown sugar. Sift together
dry ingredients. Add sour cream alternately with sifted dry ingredients.
Stir in the walnuts. Knead the dough into rolls. Wrap the rolls in wax
paper, and chill them in the refrigerator overnight. Roll the dough
quite thin, and cut into shapes. Bake in moderate oven (375°) for 10
to 15 minutes.
HINT: You can enlarge this
picture grid onto cardboard
or use the example on the
right to cut out cookies in the
shape of Saint Nicholas.
Advent Activities, Page 13
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ADVENT CALENDAR
To help make small children (and older ones, too!) more aware of the
season of Advent, make an Advent calendar. Each day, starting on
December 1, you will open a window revealing a small portion of the
Christmas story. On December 25, the last day on the calendar, you
will find a picture of Jesus lying in the manger.
To help you and your children learn the story well, read it over each
day beginning with Day 1. By Christmas, your family will have read the
story many times.
Advent traditions make Christmas more beautiful and special as we
prepare ourselves for the coming of our Savior.
Materials Needed:
 calendar sheets (provided)
 crayons or markers
 glue
 scissors, razor, or utility knife
Assembly Instructions:
1. Color the entire manger scene.
2. Cut the three sides of each window
(1-25) with scissors, razor, or
utility knife along solid black lines.
3. On the page with Baby Jesus, apply
glue to the shaded areas. Lay the
page with the star directly on top
of the page with Baby Jesus and
secure the two together.
Advent Activities, Page 14
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