Christmas on the iPad

Let's start getting into the holiday spirit with Advent 2014 - Your Christmas Calendar for 25 free surprises. There really isn't much to this app, but it is a digital Advent calendar. Every day you get to open a surprise and put a new ornament on your digital tree.

Musical Advent Calendar 2014 is another Advent calendar if you aren't feeling the one above. Every day this one unlocks a new Christmas song. The styles of songs vary; it may be old, new, a carol, or instrumental. One thing's for sure, it's bound to put you in the Christmas spirit!

Christmas just isn't the same without that ornate tree. Whether you've put a real one up or not, Christmas Tree is sure to peak your interests with its collection of 221 ornaments and trinkets that you can decorate your virtual tree with. Choose your tree style then decorate to your heart's desire. You can then place your tree in a scene and export the photo to share with your loved ones.

Deck out your iPad with this impressive assortment of holiday wallpapers. Not all of them are eye-jarring and there is a good variety that caters to everyone. They are also easy to add to your camera roll to use for both your lock screen and wallpaper.

It is now time to get the kids excited. The tradition of writing letters to Santa is one of the staples of Christmas for children. This app lets your child write a letter and send it directly to Santa at the North Pole. Santa will then reply after an hour or so.

While the kids are writing letters do you want to know how you rate with the big guy? Check out Naughty or Nice Scan and find out. This app uses a fingerprint or body scan to tap into Santa's magic book. If you turn up on the bad list, do not fear. Naughty or Nice Scan has a built in Christmas countdown timer so you know how long you have to behave and get onto his good list. This is a very entertaining app, and it's always fun to see what everyone's results are.

If you're still not in the Christmas mood, let Rudolph and his friends help with the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer interactive book app. Enjoy the pictures as you read through the story or personalize it with your own narration. There are also audio clips from the classic TV special included.

Why would you not want to watch adorable moose-deer wander around their pen and doze in the afternoon? Watch reindeer live every day until Christmas at 11 am, 6 pm, and 9 pm EST. Unfortunately, the feed has no sound, but it's still great to see the children's faces light up as they watch all of Santa's reindeer get ready for Christmas.

A Very Cozy Fireplace HD is a delight for families that don't have a fireplace in their home to enjoy during the holiday season. The fireplace was recorded in HD so it is a very convincing fireplace, even if it is all digital. Two neat things about this app are that you can choose to play music within it and you can use Airplay to stream the video to your Apple TV, making it even more realistic.

Never learned how to play the piano? Well, Christmas is a great time to start. Half game and half musical education, Christmas Piano with Free Songs guides you through classic Christmas songs. Whether you just want to follow the keys and the lyrics or actually read music, you'll be playing "O Christmas Tree" in no time. Best of all, this app is free and suitable for all ages.

Yes, Martha Stewart CraftStudio is more expensive than most virtual scrapbooking and card-making apps, but it's definitely one of the best designed. Insert pictures, stamps, text, stencil, and pick decorative pictures for your custom e-cards. The initial purchase comes with four design themes; additional themes cost extra. For the holidays, there are "Elegant Holiday" and "Vintage Christmas" themes. If you don't want to pay extra for these themes, you can still make do with the bundled ones and use Christmas colors to get a holiday feel.

Holiday shopping can be overwhelming and being organized can really help. Download mGifts - Gift List Manager and let your overwhelming feelings melt away. It helps with budgeting and sorts by person, purchased, or yet to buy. It has a passcode lock to keep out those prying eyes and allows lists to be sent via email. One excellent feature is the ability to add a photo to a gift item. This makes it easier when sending out your spousal "elf" to help.

Sometimes trekking to the store can put a damper on your Christmas spirit this time of year. The stores can get crazy! Instead, download the Amazon app for your iPad, sit back, relax, and shop. The app flows beautifully and the set up is perfect for anyone. Now, time to knock those wish lists out!

What's a holiday without the cookies? Impress your loved ones with some homemade holiday cookies courtesy of the Country Living Holiday Cookies app. The app includes a roundup of 50 cookie recipes, baking tips, decorating tricks, and a step-by-step how-to breakdown of each recipe.

This Holiday Recipes & Part Planning Guide comes from the immensely popular foodie website, Food52. Get inspired with unique recipes for this winter and delight the stomach with beautiful soups and sweets. The greatest feature of this app is its thoroughness. If you don't know a technique a recipe requires, don't sweat it. Food52 gives you a tutorial with every step pictured.

Finish off the day by having the kids reflect on how many days are left until Christmas. This free app will help you and your little ones count down the days to the big one. In addition to lovely animations and sound effects, you also get eight popular Christmas songs to get you in the spirit.

Finish off the day by having the kids reflect on how many days are left until Christmas. This free app will help you and your little ones count down the days to the most wonderful time of the year: Christmas!