Impressing your neighbors during the holidays is a beloved American tradition. This usually means throwing up some lights on the front of your home, but how do you take it to the next level? With smart lighting, you have so much more creativity to design something truly impressive. Schedule different color lights to come on at different times (e.g. red and green string lights on at 6 p.m., white and blue string lights on at 8 p.m., all on at 9 p.m., all off at 10 p.m.), andset up automations that play your favorite holiday music when you turn on the holiday decorations (e.g. with Alexa Routines, you can say "Alexa, make it bright" to turn everything on, and trigger music to play from your smart speaker or Instinct™, the smart light switch with Alexa Built-In." 

If you're a parent, then you know how complicated and stressful the holiday season can become. Gifts to buy and wrap, turkey dinners to cook, decorations to put up: it can become overwhelming. Fortunately, Instinct is here to help. Add to your to-do list by talking to Alexa within Instinct, and create reminders throughout the day ("Alexa, remind me to pick up a gift for my parents"). Make sure everything is secure so kids don’t find out what you got them. You can then simply ask your home what needs to be done next and Instinct will talk you through it ("Alexa, how do I season a turkey?"). This helps you stay organized and get through the day without putting a foot wrong. 

People love cheesy movies during the holidays, but don’t confine yourself to what's showing on television. Instead, put together your own playlist of the family’s favorite movies, whether they are traditional holiday features or not ("Alexa, add 'Home Alone' to our list of must-see holiday movies."). With Instinct and a Fire TV, all that's required is for someone to shout out what they want to see ("Alexa, play Home Alone on Fire TV.") and it will automatically begin playing on the screen. This means no more time wasted scrolling through the movie listings.

Being an Alexa device, Instinct has access to the entirety of the world’s knowledge, making it the ideal quizmaster. Why not utilize this for some family fun? You could write your own questions and then ask Alexa inside Instinct for the answer, or ask Alexa to come up with the questions. This will keep the whole family entertained for hours on a lazy holiday afternoon.

Home automation can make life fun and easy at any time of the year, but during the holidays, it really comes into its own. Use Instinct alongside other iDevices products to decorate the house, keep track of tasks, and play music, movies and games. This will make a potentially stressful time the fun and easy period that you expect from the festive season.