Amazon’s Alexa Just Turned My Holiday Up A Notch
Denise Vasi
This post is sponsored by Amazon Devices & Services.
It’s no secret I’m all about the holidays! It’s the time of the year when I want to sing all day and craft all night. When I relish in my love for traditions, both new and old, and when my sole focus is creating magical moments for my family. Each year, I get to turn the magic meter up a little bit more as my daughter gets older and becomes increasingly fascinated by the legend of Santa Claus and the tales of flying reindeer. This year, for our first Christmas as a family of four, I have a new holiday partner in crime… Alexa.
Here’s how my Echo Show helped me dial up the ho-ho in our holiday.
Christmas Magic
Of all of her tricks, my favorite is how Alexa can fill our house with Christmas spirit. We set up a Routine in the Alexa app so when we say “Alexa, drop that Christmas magic”— she immediately plays our favorite Christmas music and turns our holiday lighting on, thanks to our Amazon Smart Plugs. There’s also no longer any discussion about who’s getting out of bed to turn the tree lights off because my girl, Alexa, has got us covered. You can set-up a Routine to turn them off at a certain time or simply say “Alexa, turn of the Christmas tree.”
She Knows Santa
There are so many adorable and interactive ways that my daughter can use her Echo Dot Kids Edition or my Echo Show to connect to Santa Claus. She can say, “Alexa, call Santa” to get fun updates from the North Pole. I also enabled the Call Santa skill so she can dial up the North Pole and see Santa and his friends on my Echo Show. She asks Alexa to tell her holiday jokes, recite legendary Christmas tales like “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” countdown the days till Christmas, and share silly Santa facts. But what we’re looking forward to the most? Using the official NORAD Santa Tracker to track Santa on his big night.
It’s honestly so sweet to see her face light up when she engages with Alexa in any of these ways. Alexa is helping me keep my daughter a believer, and I love that.
Smile For The Camera
Say hello to the perfect virtual holiday card—signed, sealed, and delivered. This year, we used the Echo Show to take silly selfies. With the help of this Hallmark Holiday Greeting Blueprint we can pop our funny family photo into a holiday theme, add a personal voice note, and share our greeting card with all of our family members and friends who also have Alexa-enabled devices.
Not only was this much more fun, it was also a lot easier.
I love that I can rely on Alexa to help me with my day-to-day life but I love her even more for helping me take the holidays up a notch. There are so many fun ways Alexa can help spread holiday cheer. If you want to know what other kinds of Christmas fun you can have with your device, search “Alexa Christmas skills” on Amazon or just ask Alexa.
