Easy-Peasy Jesse Tree Activity

The Jesse Tree is a visual representation of Jesus's lineage. During Advent, Christian families often participate in the creation of a household Jesse Tree.

That Jesse Tree can get rather fancy. You can make ornaments yourself either sewn or painted, have Jesse Tree ornament swaps, etc. You can buy expensive Jesse Tree ornaments, too.

At Casa Paperdali, we've always kept this project simple with printable Jesse Tree ornaments.

We've read the corresponding Scripture readings for each day, colored the ornaments, and put them on our tree. The trees have been:

• Green poster board in the shape of an evergreen tree
• A branch brought from the yard into our house
• Our otherwise undecorated Christmas tree

A Jesse Tree Printable Calendar/Tree

Having celebrated the Jesse Tree for about 10 years now, we needed a change in our approach. So, this year, I thought to draw something that's an all-in-one sort of calendar:

 

The calendar is put together by printing out the five pieces. The 24 drawings have a number for the day (1 is for Dec. 1, 23 is Dec. 23, etc.) and a corresponding Scripture verse on a separate piece of paper.

The pieces are all then taped together to form one Christmas tree  (errr, Jesse Tree) shape. Each day, a child will color the day's Scripture verse. 

What makes this project easy-peasy is that, if you have younger kids, you don't have to keep track of the 24 ornaments. Once you get your tree taped together and put up (we're gluing ours on green posterboard), you just need to color that day (well, and read the day's Scripture).

This Jesse Tree calendar/coloring page is available right now at the Paper Dali shop for just $4 (much less than a mocha). And because the project is in PDF, you can make copies for each child in your household.

If you're looking for Jesse Tree ornaments to color, though, you might like these large-as-a-CD-sized Jesse Tree ornaments, too.

Have fun coloring and crafting this upcoming Advent season!

xo
Vee

Free All Saints' Day Coloring Page [Downloadable PDF]

Ever since I was a little girl, the saint have been very dear to me. The idea of having heavenly friends, these companions in the faith journey, amazed me... and continues to do so.

As I thought about All Saints' Day this year, I wondered how whether Bl. Miguel Pro gets to play his guitar. Amid all his crazy adventures as an "undercover priest" in Mexico during the Catholic persecution, he once said, "I  see God’s hand so palpably in everything that almost—almost I fear they won’t kill me in these adventures. That will be a fiasco for me who sighs to go to heaven and start tossing off arpeggios on the guitar with my guardian angel."
 
So, I had to draw my favorite saint with a guitar in hand. And then, I imagined St. Therese flinging roses as promised: "After my death I shall let fall from heaven a shower of roses.  I will spend my heaven doing good upon the earth."
 
After Bl. Miguel Pro and St. Therese showed up behind the celebratory cake, the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph (with the Child Jesus on his shoulders) showed up. Naturally, St. Michael the Archangel (or is that Gabriel? He seemed to hang around St. Joseph more) showed up. And then St. Maximilian Kolbe, who is always pictured so seriously, smiled in happiness when he saw the scene. St. Francis had a little birdy tell him about the party. And St. Peter had the keys to the church. Finally, St. Elizabeth of Hungary brought some freshly baked bread because, well, she's known for it.

The party hats and balloons are needed because it's a celebration! What's a feast day without some delicious eats, music, and balloons? (OK, the balloons may just be me...)

If you'd like to celebrate, too, feel free to print out my free All Saints' Day coloring page in this downloadable PDF.

(Also, you might want to check out this free feast day planning page for today and all upcoming holy days.)

xo
Vee

Free Catholic Feast Day Planning Worksheet [Downloadable PDF]

Some of my favorite feast days are on the liturgical horizon. (St. Elizabeth of Hungary! Blessed Miguel Pro! Juan Diego! Our Lady of Guadalupe! Etc.! Etc.!) Because of the sheer amount of favorite feast days ahead, I decided to keep my planning stress-free and simple this year.

And that's where my free liturgical feast day planning worksheet comes in:



I'll be printing out a few copies of this Catholic feast day planning sheet and filling them out to make sure I don't miss some of the big feast days.

However, I may not fill in each spot for each feast day. Or I may. That depends on the feast day, how much is out there, and, honestly, my energy level.

That's the biggest thing to keep in mind when planning your celebration for a Catholic feast day: Keep your feast day simple, keep it stress-free, keep it centered on Christ.

The main idea is to do something special on this day to mark it as standing out for us Catholics. Whether you bake a cake as a special treat after dinner or do a movie, books, crafts, and websites, the main focus is that we enjoy as a family learning more about the feast day and growing closer to Christ.

So, enjoy this free downloadable Catholic feast day planning sheet. Make your planning be joyful!

(If you'd like to show me what you've planned or how you've colored or used the planner, make sure to tag me on Instagram with #paperdali.)


Vee

Free Saint Pope John Paul II Printable Triptych

Excited about tomorrow's feast day of Saint Pope John Paul II? (Say YES!)

To celebrate this hugely popular pope-now-saint, I created a Saint Pope John Paul II tripych (a fancy word for three-panel painting) craft activity.

Want to put yours together for the Saint JP2 feast day? It's easy-peasy.

You'll need my favorite tools for a crafting project:

• Markers and colored pencils
• Childproof scissors (because I'm a scissors amateur)
• A glue stick
• Manila folder (because card stock is spendy)

1. Download and print the free Saint Pope John Paul II triptych printable

Super-important: Make sure your printer settings are "landscape mode" and "fit to printable area." If you don't, you end up with a mini triptych.

2. Cut out the printable along the dark outer line

3. Color with your favorite markers, colored pencils, drawing pens, etc.

4. Add doodles, squiggles, and whatever you'd like to make it extra-special

5. Glue to the manila folder (or card stock)

6. Cut out the tripytch again and the fold the outside panels towards the middle like so:

7. Decorate the outside panels, then place your beautiful work of art in a thoughtful spot

A photo posted by Vee Jarski (@paper_dali) on Oct 21, 2015 at 4:15pm PDT

* * *

Hope you had fun making your own Saint John Paul II triptych! If you do use it, feel free to share pics of your work. If you're on Instagram, use the hashtag #paperdali or tag me (I'm @paper_dali), so I can see your triptych.

xo
Vee

All Saints Day Party With a Touch of Halloween: A Paper Doll Playset

A photo posted by Vee Jarski (@paper_dali) on Oct 10, 2015 at 6:57pm PDT

Halloween packs a two-fold punch of irresistible awesomeness for children: candy and dress-up. Do you celebrate it or opt to celebrate All Saints Day instead?

At Casa Paper Dali, we've had a funny sort of relationship with Halloween. We've never quite celebrated it, but we've never quite ignored it either.

When my firstborn was four (and at the age where strangers at stores ask, "What are you going to be for Halloween, little girl?"), she had a terrible allergy to Red 40 (a popular food coloring). Just a little consumption of Red 40 would unhinge her for hours, shaking and crying.

Between that allergy and her fear of Halloween decorations (you never realize how spooky Halloween decorations really are until you shop in October with a very sensitive kid), we opted to just make special dye-free treats and do a movie marathon instead. She received the fun of having a special day with treats and dressing up to hand out candy---all stress-free.

Eventually, she outgrew this dye allergy, but by then, she was accustomed to getting treats without having to knock on strangers' doors for them and choosing the flicks for movie marathons. Her siblings after her all liked the idea of dressing up to pass out candy to trick-or-treaters while eating their own treats and watching movies.

"Would you like to go trick-or-treating?" I asked the children.

"Can I just have the candy?"

 Celebrating All Saints Day

In time, my understanding and love of the liturgical year grew, and I discovered the beautiful blogs of Catholic mothers, reading everything I could about how to celebrate different saints' days and feasts. (Catholic All Year's Baby Steps to Living a Liturgical Year article is a beautiful, honest guide to start doing so.)

We eventually made All Saints Day parties with friends part of our celebration, eclipsing Halloween and making time to spend with our holy friends in heaven.

There's always good food because we're Catholic and games, such as:

• St. Peter Fishing Booth
  Each child tosses a mini play fishing pole and hooks a toy. You can use a kiddie pool for this. We've had a sibling hide on the opposite side of the booth and pin fun things to the hooks. 
• 7 Deadly Sins Bowling Pins Game
  Use a child's play bowling set, label each pin with a deadly sin, get a plastic ball and label it "grace" and then knock down as many sins as you can. 
• St. Therese Flower Toss
  Display a photo of St. Therese of Lisieux. Each participant receives a rose (real, paper or otherwise) to toss to the picture. Whoever's rose is closest wins the prize. 
• Pin the Halo on the Archangel
  A sweeter version of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey," participants get to pin a halo on an archangel. (Feel free to use my St. Michael the Archangel drawing for this game!) 
• St. Isadore Pumpkin Roll
  Each participant rolls a pumpkin from a designated starting point to a designated finishing line. Whoever gets there first, wins. 
• St. Christopher Relay Race
  Participants race from a designated starting point to a basket filled with baby dolls (i.e., "baby Jesus") then have to hurry back to the finishing line while carrying the baby doll on their shoulders. 
• Follow the Straight Path Race
  Use some wooden blocks or beams for a fast-paced balancing game. Participants race across the straight path to get to the finishing line first. You can also do an alternate version and use a stopwatch to see which child has the best time across the beam. 
• Miguel Pro Dress-Up Relay Race
  Designate a starting line and finish line. At the finish line, put a box and an outfit to dress into in the box. Have a box for each contestant. On "Go!" the kids run to the box, put on all the clothes and then race back. (Blessed Miguel Pro was known for donning disguises as he performed his priestly duties and evaded police during the Catholic persecution in Mexico City.)

You can find more ideas on my Ultimate All Saints Day post.

An All Saints Day | Halloween Paper Doll Set

 My younger boys love playing with paper dolls, and so I recently drew and put together this All Saints Day paper doll playset for them:

 This set was difficult to name for my Etsy shop because it's both Halloween and All Saints Day. The four paper doll kids go trick-or-treating and receive treats from the three paper doll grown-ups. But the costumes are those that Catholic children use for All Saints Day.

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You can download the 15-page PDF for just $8 from my Etsy shop.

Feel free to share your All Saints Day ideas in the comments!