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When you’re trying to get into the holiday spirit tech can help. Sometimes the news, your friends, work or family don’t make a festive mood for you. What to do?
Turn to tech!
Apps, websites, video, music and more can help bring the holiday spirit into your life, and help you spread the cheer!
RACK – Random Acts of Christmas Kindness
Nothing spreads good cheer like helping others. Start a holiday tradition by doing Random Acts of Christmas Kindness (RACK), surprising others with your generous gestures. RACKing doesn’t have to cost money, sometimes the kindest gifts are ones that are thoughtful, not expensive.
#QOTD – Treasure kindness, give without hesitation, lose without regret and acquire without meanness. – George Sand.
— Bradley S. L. Henry (@Principal_Henry) November 10, 2016
For inspiration, check out Pinterest RACK boards and RACK pins.
This RACK Pinterest board from Megan Sheakoski has pins including RACKS for the elderly, kids and more.
Also head to RACK websites to get ideas for helping others such as:
Baton Rouge Moms Random Acts of Christmas Kindness with ideas for acts you can do for others.
The Still Being Molly website has a RACK Advent calendar you can download for free, filled with ideas to spread cheer: RACK Advent Calendar 2016.
The Kiddie Matters website has 30 ideas of RACKs you can do with children.
Virtual Tour of Santa’s House
Real estate website Zillow has a virtual tour of Santa’s house to give you a peek inside his home at the North Pole. Head to Santa’s House on Zillow and click on the video to see where Santa lives.
Seen fun facts, such as when the home was built, and view photos of the rooms in his house. Santa’s house isn’t officially on the market, but you can still take the tour!
Holiday Music
Holiday music can get you in a jolly spirit. Find festive tunes here:
Christmas Radio Android App
Hear songs from over 100 Internet radio stations and add your favorites to your Spotify playlists. Choose your favorite themes and background colors. Fall asleep to Christmas music with the sleep timer.
Music genres include Christmas Pop, Rock, Classical, Instrumental, Jazz and Smooth. The app is free with in-app purchases available.
Christmas Radio is available in the Google Play store.
World Radio Stations Christmas iPhone and iPad App
This free app broadcasts Christmas music from 97 radio stations in 10 different languages around the world. Search for music by language or by genre, such as jazz, instrumental or music for children.
World Radio Stations Christmas is available in the iTunes App Store.
Sirius
Sirius Satellite Radio has plenty of holiday channels for your listening pleasure:
- Holly (channel 17)
- Holiday Traditions (channel 18)
- Holiday Pops (channel 76)
- Country Christmas (channel 58)
- Holiday Soul (channel 49)
Here’s a video with a sample selection from Holly, channel 17:
Also check out New Year’s Nation on channel 18 from Friday, December 30 at 12:00 pm ET to Monday, January 2 at 3:00 am ET to help you celebrate the arrival of 2017!
Spotify
Spotify is filled with Christmas playlists. Search for “Christmas music” to find playlists or create your own.
Here’s a Christmas music Spotify playlist to get you started:
PNP Santa Video
The Holiday season wouldn’t be complete without a PNP Santa video. Each year PNP lets you create a free video with your wish list for Santa. Fun for kids and adults, this video is a sure way to let your loved ones know you’re thinking of them this holiday season.
Head to the PNP website to create a Santa video or download the PNP Santa app to create a video from your phone or tablet.
Add a photo of your loved one and yourself, then add some information about them, such as whether they’ve been naughty or nice. Then in just a minute or so, PNP will create a personalized video for free.
Here’s a link to my personal PNP Santa video.
After you create a video you can share it with others via Facebook and email, then make more videos.
Charlie Brown Christmas Facebook Stickers
Fans of Charlie Brown, Christmas and Facebook stickers will enjoy the Charlie Brown Christmas Facebook sticker collection. Head to the Facebook sticker store to download the free set of Charlie Brown Christmas stickers.
Use these in your Facebook messages to lift up your friends and put them in the holiday spirit!
Learn more at => Get Social with Emoticons on Twitter and Stickers on Facebook!
Your Thoughts
Do you use tech to get into the holiday spirit? Have you tried any of these websites, apps or other tech tools? Do you have any holiday tech you recommend?
Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!
* Heart Ornament image (edited) courtesy of Edward Peters via Flickr and Creative Commons
I agree completely, Christmas gestures should be purely from ones kindness towards the less fortunate
Hi Musyoka, Yes, doing a RACK can bring you as much joy as the person receiving the kindness. I was RACKed once and it was such a wonderful feeling to know a complete stranger could be so kind.
Happy holidays, Musyoka!
I like the apps for Christmas seasons. They are really good enough to lift up friends and put them in the holiday spirit!Christmas is meant for sharing happiness to all.
Hello Guadensia, Yes, Christmas is a time for sharing the spirit of joy with others. Yet often we become overwhelmed with daily pressures and problems. We may not think of tech to help us get into a joyful spirit, but these tech tools may do just that.
I hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas, Gaudensia.