6 Ways I Make My Mac Feel Festive for the Holidays

You embellish your private home through the holidays, so why not your Mac? There are many methods you may make your Mac really feel just a little extra festive, listed below are my favorites.


1 Use a Wintery Wallpaper

Your desktop is one thing that you simply see lots of once you’re utilizing your Mac, so it is the plain place to begin once you need to make your Mac look extra festive. There are a couple of wallpapers included with your Mac that you could select from to make issues really feel just a little extra seasonal.


Choices akin to “Yosemite Mountains” and “Yosemite From Above” supply good snowy photos that may make your Mac really feel just a little extra festive. My private favourite is “Greenland Glacier,” which is what I think about the view from Santa’s workshop should appear to be.

If not one of the inventory wallpapers float your boat, there are many websites akin to Unsplash that provide festive wallpapers that you could obtain without cost. You should utilize your individual photographs too, whether or not it is an inventive shot of your Christmas tree, or the snowman you made final time it snowed.


Open the Settings app and choose “Wallpaper” from the left-hand menu.

Choose one of many inventory wallpaper choices.

Wallpaper options in the Settings app on a Mac.

Alternatively, click on “Add Picture” to decide on a picture of your individual.

Add Photo button in Settings app on a Mac.

Click on “Select” and choose the picture you need to use.


Choose photo option in Settings app on a Mac.

Toggle “Present as Display screen Saver” to make use of the identical picture as your display screen saver, too.

Show as Screensaver toggle in Settings app on a Mac.

2 Select a Festive Screensaver

Having festive wallpaper is okay, however when your Mac goes to sleep, it is going to cease wanting festive. That is the place changing your screensaver can assist. You possibly can set your wallpaper as your screensaver by toggling the “Present as Screensaver” possibility to your wallpaper as outlined above.

You could find loads of free screensavers on-line, however many of those are within the type of apps. Putting in an app from an unknown supply is a danger you won’t need to take until you need your Christmas ruined. My recommendation can be to obtain one thing from the App Retailer, as it is going to have handed Apple’s scrutiny, so that you’re much less more likely to fall foul of malware.


Snow Village 3D screensaver running on a Mac.
3Planesoft

There are many free choices on the market, however in the event you’re prepared to half with a couple of {dollars}, Snow Village 3D is a superb alternative that offers you a whole animated village to get pleasure from.

3 Set up the Festivitas App to Embellish Your Desktop

You hold lights in your tree and round your private home, so why not in your Mac, too? The Festivitas app (to not be confused with Frank Costanza’s Festivus) allows you to do precisely that. You possibly can drape festive lights across your menu bar and the dock, immediately making your Mac really feel much more joyous.

Animated Festivas demo
Simon Størving


The app has a good worth coverage, the place you’ll be able to pay what you suppose the app is value. There is a minimal price of €4 however you’ll be able to pay extra if you wish to assist the developer’s work.

As children, we might be hyper-aware of the date come December as we counted the passing weeks, days, and hours till Christmas Day.. As you become older, nevertheless, it is simple to lose observe of how distant Christmas is.

In the event you’re a fan of Mac widgets, you’ll be able to add a countdown widget to your desktop that can all the time be there to remind you simply how few days you’ve gotten left to get all these presents purchased. There are many apps that provide countdown widgets. I take advantage of the free Christmas Gift List Tracker app to prepare my reward shopping for, and it contains its personal Christmas countdown widget that you could add to your Mac desktop.

Click on the date within the menu bar to open the Notification Middle. On the backside of the pane, faucet “Edit Widgets.”

Edit Widgets button in Notification Center on a Mac.


Seek for the app that has your countdown widget and drag the widget onto your desktop.

Christmas Countdown widget in widget picker on a Mac.

Now you can maintain observe of how distant Christmas is with only a look.

Christmas countdown widget on a Mac desktop.

You possibly can even go away it there all 12 months spherical, in the event you’re actually that obsessed and need to get some humorous appears out of your co-workers in March.

5 Begin Your Festive Playlist When You Log In

No self-respecting lover of the festive season is with out their very own rigorously curated Christmas playlist. Mine contains festive classics akin to Joseph, Who Understood by The New Pornographers, which in my view must be a part of each Christmas playlist.


Having to open Apple Music and begin your playlist is much an excessive amount of effort for such a busy time of 12 months. That is why you need to set your playlist to mechanically begin taking part in once you log in to your Mac.

Though the Shortcuts app on Mac would not have any choices to mechanically set off shortcuts, there are two workarounds. It can save you any shortcut as an app in your dock, after which set that app to open at login. This may mechanically begin your Christmas playlist everytime you log in to your Mac.

Open the Shortcuts app and click on the “+” (plus) button to create a brand new shortcut. Seek for “Play Music” and choose the “Play Music” motion from the outcomes.

Search for and select Play Music action in the Shortcuts app on a Mac.

Click on “Music” and choose your playlist from the Apple Music library.


Music option in Shortcuts app on a Mac.

Click on “Present Extra.”

Show More in Shortcuts app on a Mac.

Change the “Shuffle” to “Songs” and “Repeat” to “All” to shuffle your playlist on a loop. Identify your shortcut and shut it.

Shuffle Songs and Repeat All in Shortcuts app on a Mac.

Proper-click your new shortcut in the principle Shortcuts web page and choose “Add to Dock.”


Add to Dock in Shortcuts app on a Mac.

Proper-click the shortcut within the dock and choose Choices > Open at Login. Your playlist will now play each time you log in to your Mac.

Open at Login in Dock on a Mac.

Alternatively, you’ll be able to add a complete heap of useful Shortcuts triggers to your Mac with Shortery.

6 Make It Snow On Your Mac

If you wish to go the entire hog to make your Mac really feel as festive as doable, there’s one final thing to do: let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. There are a number of apps that may do the trick for you.

Xmas Snow app creating a snow effect on the desktop of a Mac.


I take advantage of the Xmas Snow app, which prices $1.99, but it surely’s greater than value it to observe the snow slowly drift down your desktop. You possibly can select from three various kinds of snow and have all three falling without delay if you want. There are additionally another festive bits you’ll be able to add to your desktop, together with a Christmas tree, a garland across the border of the display screen, and a Christmas countdown timer.


In the event you spend lots of time in your Mac, staring on the usual display screen can get just a little boring. You possibly can spruce up your Mac desktop this Christmas to make it much more festive earlier than you pack away all of your Mac decorations till subsequent 12 months. Merry ChristMac!

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