Christmas has always been a big deal around the Nelson household. There is always great food, a wonderful smelling Christmas tree, and special holiday decorations to make the spirit bright. In addition to sharing wonderful holiday recipes with you this month, we are also going to be sharing with you some fun Christmas traditions, and easy and fun ways to make the holidays special. 

Our first fun Christmas craft we'd like to share with you, is making a nativity set out of rocks. This is the perfect craft for those of you with toddlers who don't want to see your heirloom nativity sets get broken. Just make sure you get rocks that are large enough they can't be swallowed, but small enough they won't smash any little toes. 

There are so many expenses that accompany the holiday season, so creating a fun family heirloom that is free and fun is a wonderful treat. Simply pick out the number of characters you would like to create and then paint the rocks accordingly. I found it was easiest to draw the characters out with a sharpie, then just paint inside the lines. Get creative! This is also a wonderful craft to get older children involved in helping as well. 

We'd like to thank all of our friends who supported the Lavender Apple Farm during Small Business Saturday. Don't forget to order your Christmas gifts early this year so they ship in time for the holiday! www.lavenderapple.com 

As a parent, you are bound to get persuaded into fort building on quite a regular basis. Spending so much time underneath my kitchen table reading and pretending, gave me a great idea. My husband loves when I come up with an idea on my very own - no pinterest needed! Haha. I decided to paint a sky on the underside of our kitchen table! 

This was the perfect easy afternoon craft. You simply flip your table over and freehand whatever storms, clouds, stars, whatever your imagination can think up. And as you can see from the smudges, our son got involved too! We used acrylic paint, which is inexpensive, durable, and dries quickly. I was unsure if my son would love it, but he has spent every single day playing under our table "in his cave" since the day we painted it. It was so quick and cheap and he has gotten so much enjoyment from it. 

And the best part is, when he gets bored with it, we can simply paint over it and add new characters or scenes and it will be like new to him again! I also love that when our table is sitting in our kitchen and company comes over, my house looks perfectly clean and orderly, but there is a world of fun still available to our little man. Give it a try on your kitchen table and you won't regret it!