Preparing your iPhone for the holidays

December is packed full of holidays, and one of the most ideal situations is receiving a shiny new Mac, iPod, iPhone, Apple TV or other Apple-related product as a gift. But what about the Mac products that you already have? We'll tell you how to spruce up your iPhone, then your Mac, for the holidays. Please note that all application links opens iTunes. All prices given are from the U.S. iTunes Store and are in dollars.

Making a list ...
TUAW recently reviewed Nice List from Polar Bear Farm as a solution to keeping track of your holiday gift list. The application keeps track of whether you've purchased your gift, wrapped, and mailed it. It's not the only holiday-related task manager out there. Christmas List from Better Day Wireless, shown at right, boasts similar features to Nice List, but goes in-depth in a few areas, such as making notes on the gifts that you've purchased. The application also boasts festive graphics throughout, which adds a nice touch to a standard task manager. Both applications do a fantastic job at keeping track of the gifts that you're giving, but Nice List is currently on sale for $.99. However, if you're more attracted to the graphic interface of Christmas List, that might be the better application for you.

• Nice List: $.99 (normally $2.99)
• Christmas List: $2.99

Your iPhone as a snow globe
I recently got a hands-on look at The Polypeptides' eSnowglobe application, which literally puts a snow globe in your pocket. eSnowglobe boasts beautiful graphics, and acts just like a regular snow globe. It uses the accelerometer to move the snow around your iPhone screen. You can tilt your iPhone to gather all the snow up in one area, or spread it out. There's also a number of features that allow you to change the background to either one of their provided graphics or your own pictures from Photos, change the color of the "snow," and various other tools. I had my crack research team of extended family members try this out, and it was a hit. My niece loved changing the backgrounds, and my nephew kept trying to shake it quickly like a real snow globe. That didn't work out so well, but he still enjoyed playing with it.

• eSnowglobe: $1.99

Holiday games
There are several holiday-based games available for the iPhone. Tangram Puzzle Pro currently has a free holiday edition, with various tangrams that look like familiar holiday symbols. Christmas Spell Lite is a word scramble game. Letters float in the middle of a snow globe, and you drag them out of the globe to solve the puzzle.

• Tangram Puzzle Pro: Holiday Edition: Free
• Christmas Spell Lite: Free
  

Other quirky holiday applications
Remember those plastic magic 8-balls? You ask a question, shake it up, and the answer to the question would "magically appear." Siteworx has released a holiday-related iPhone version of this called Holiday Crystal Ball. Want to know if you've got a lump of coal in your stocking this year? Ask away, give your iPhone a shake, and the answer appears instantly. Those who ever had to play the bells in a Christmas choir will appreciate Talee Talle's Christmas Bells. Don't want to bother with putting up a tree and decorations? Get your own tree on the iPhone with iXmas Tree. Lots of decorations, but no pine needles to vacuum up. And, finally, there is Cookies for Santa, an adorable program that is also a great family activity. You and your child can decorate a plate of cookies with icing and sprinkles, then write a note to Santa. The note and cookies can then be saved to the iPhone Photo Album and e-mailed to relatives or kept as a keepsake.

• Holiday Crystal Ball: Free
• Christmas Bells: Free
• iXmas Tree: $.99
• Cookies for Santa: Free

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