This was the one reading that I wish I could have left out, (and if Advent hadn’t been the maximum number of days it can be this year, it would have been the first to go!). The reading focused on Anne and Joachim, who, according to tradition, were the parents of Mary. Now, I have no problem with learning about Mary’s parents, and how God used them to raise her in the knowledge of Scripture, but there are still some problems with having them as part of the Jesse Tree. First, we don’t know what their names really were. We also didn’t actually have a Bible reading about them, as they don’t actually appear in the Bible. All we had to go by was a brief paragraph in our Jesse Tree book, and some ad-libbing on my part, which seems kind of contrary to the rest of the Jesse Tree activities. So, I get why they were included, (and I am grateful for the parents they were to Mary!), but I still don’t think they were the best choice.