Christmas - King Jesus Tree and Gift for Jesus Traditions

Today we started a new Christmas Tradition to add to our current ones.  I wanted to do something that would focus our minds and the Children's attention to the real meaning of the Holiday.  So, we made a "King Jesus Tree"!

We first made our Jesus Crown for the King of all Kings!  We started out with a crown cut out I purchased from Oriental Trading.  I then cut a piece of Cardstock to glue it to in order to make the crown bigger.  Then we spray painted it gold.

Next we chose purple glitter pom poms, purple feathers and silver and gold doves and trees we purchased previously for another project.  We chose Purple because it was the color of royalty in Jesus time.

Next we took our hot glue gun and glued the crown closed large enough to be a tree topper but small enough that it wouldn't fall down the tree!  This also helped me determine the middle point for the crown's focal point.  We put a larger purple pom pom in the center and then glued smaller purple ones around the crown.  We then glued a large purple feather over the center and two feathers on either side.  We added doves, gold and silver jewels and more pom poms.  Then we wrote JESUS across the crown in purple paint marker.  Then it was ready to go on the tree!

To decorate the tree I went to Walmart and we found purple jewel ornaments ($8) and silver twists ($2.98) and gold Angels trumpeting ($2.98) and some white, silver and purple ribbon ($12).  I made purple ribbon bows to place around the tree (here is an easy video tutorial of how to make your own bows  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDcvdYQWOaw) after I wrapped the tree with white and silver ribbons (twisting as I wrapped the tree).  Again, we chose the colors of royalty to signify Christ's position as King of Kings.

We add a gift under the Jesus Tree.

We began this "gift for Jesus" tradition when my son was an infant.  Inside this gift are hearts with handprints for each child from every Christmas.  Each year we add a new hand print with the date.  Written on the outside of the box we place them in, it says "To:  Jesus From:  Mason and Sarah  -I give my heart and hands this Christmas to you for your service in the coming year."  They like to look at their handprints and see how much they've grown!  We pray that God will use them to glorify himself in the coming year and show them ways they can serve him being his hands and feet to a hurting world.

Lastly, we place the Nativity scene under our "Jesus Tree"!