Seasonal Decorations

On some days the sky dresses up: falling leaves in the fall, a haunted night near Halloween, a cozy window at Christmas, and a handful of surprises through the year.

Decorations are photographs laid over the live sky, and they never change your lights or anything else in the house.

Beside an open menu: on a screen whose menu stays open, the decorations start at the menu's edge instead of behind it. The sky itself still runs under the menu, blurred by its glass.

Turning them all off: the Seasonal decorations switch, switch.hk_frontend_seasonal_decorations, on the HK Frontend device. The same switch is HK Settings → All Screens → Sky / Background → Seasonal Decorations, and an automation can flip it like any switch. A screen whose own Sky / Background → Decorations is set to On keeps its decorations while the switch is off; set it back to Same as All Screens for the switch to reach it.

Turning one off: HK Settings → Sky / Background → the decoration → Show.

Old and New Decorations: Sky / Background → Decoration Style chooses how they are drawn. Old Decorations, the default, is everything on this page. New Decorations draws close woodland scenery instead -- rooted trees either side of the screen with the live sky between them -- for autumn and Thanksgiving, Halloween, spring, summer and the Fourth of July, birthdays, winter and Christmas, lit by the time of day, the clouds and the moon. On days with no holiday or birthday the season's own woodland shows; choose which seasons in Sky / Background → Woodland Between Occasions — a holiday's Show decides only the holiday. The other surprises, and the forecast screensaver, keep their usual look. Each screen can choose its own style or follow All Screens.

Halloween	Christmas
Autumn, between occasions	A birthday

New Decorations' scenes come alive with small touches, through the whole scene — some pass behind your cards, as they would behind a window frame — sized for every screen from a phone to a desk:

Scene	Touches
Halloween	Jack-o’-lanterns hung in the trees and on the ground, lit by flickering candles after dark, their light pooling on the leaves; bats every night in twos and threes, one flock across the moon (a swarm on a spooky night, with the witch); an owl’s eyes in the old tree; mist drifting over the moon.
Christmas	The strings of lights twinkle one bulb after another; Santa crosses the moon on Christmas Eve; moonlit snow glints.
Winter	Glints on moonlit snow, and on an occasional clear, dark night the northern lights.
Autumn	Leaves fall with the real wind, and a gust swirls a few across the scene; geese pass now and then by day; a full moon rises warm and orange — a harvest moon — and whitens as the night goes on.
Spring	Petals drift down from the blossoms; when the sun comes out after real rain, a rainbow (summer too).
Summer and the Fourth	Fireflies come out at dusk; the cafe lights breathe along their wire; fireworks on the Fourth.
Birthdays	A pennant banner strung from tree to tree — HAPPY BIRTHDAY, then the name from Birthdays (on a phone, the name alone) — confetti on the hour, and a big bunch of balloons rising from behind the mossy rock and the presents.

Everything stops when Animations is off, on a reduced-motion device, behind the screensaver and on a hidden page.

The seasons

Each season has a window of dates. Inside it, the sky decorates Sometimes by default: a roll of the dice each day, with the odds rising as the last day nears, and always on the final days. You can change that to Every Day or Only the Last Days (just the always-on days in the table below). With dates of your own, the odds rise across your window instead.

Season	Default dates	What it shows	Always on (with the default dates)
Fall & Halloween	Sep 22 – Oct 31	An autumn canopy and tumbling leaves by day. On spooky nights: a big moon, fog, bare branches, bats, a cobweb and a witch crossing the moon.	Oct 28 – 31, spooky nights included
Thanksgiving	Nov 1 – Thanksgiving Day	The autumn canopy with heavier falling leaves.	The day before Thanksgiving, and the day
Christmas	Dec 7 – Dec 25	Pine, ornaments and stockings along the top and sides, twinkling lights, drifting snow and a rare sleigh.	Dec 22 – 25

Spooky nights roll separately from the leaves, and more rarely: leaves are the ambience, and a witch crossing the moon should be something you catch. Under Fall & Halloween, Spooky Nights is Sometimes, Every Night or Never (leaves only). A night is once the sun is more than 4° below the horizon.

Thanksgiving Day is the fourth Thursday of November. Christmas starts on December 7 rather than right after Thanksgiving, so the decoration stays a treat rather than a month of wallpaper.

The surprises

Surprise	When	What it shows
Birthdays	On each birthday you add	Balloons and confetti.
Fourth of July	Every day, Jun 28 – Jul 4	Bunting and sparkles, with a firework at night.
Valentine’s Day	Every day, Feb 8 – Feb 14	Hearts and falling heart petals.
Spring Garden	Some days, Mar 20 – Jun 20	Blossom and petals, with a butterfly by day.
Winter Wonderland	Some days, Dec 21 – Mar 19	Frost and ice crystals.
Storybook Magic	One day a month	A storybook frame, sparkles and a fairy.
Space Night	One other day a month	Sparkles and a rocket.

• Spring Garden and Winter Wonderland show on about one day in seven and one in eight. Often doubles that; Rarely halves it.
• Storybook Magic and Space Night each have their own fixed days in every month: Once, Twice or Four Times a Month. They never share a day.
• Birthdays: HK Settings → Sky / Background → Birthdays → Add Birthday, with a name, month and day.

Which one wins. Only one decoration shows on a day, in this order: a birthday, the Fourth of July week, Valentine’s week, the season (on a day it is decorating), Spring Garden or Winter Wonderland, Storybook Magic, then Space Night. A birthday on December 16 replaces the Christmas decoration for that day only.

Every screen agrees. The roll is made once per day on your local calendar, so all your screens show the same thing, and nothing changes in front of you during the day.

On the forecast screensaver

The forecast screensaver draws its own landscape rather than the frames above, so on the same days the landscape itself is decorated, and whatever moves (leaves, bats, the witch, the sleigh, snow, confetti) still crosses it. Turning a decoration off, or the Seasonal decorations switch, turns it off here too.

Halloween night	Halloween by day
Christmas	The Fourth of July
A birthday

Decoration	On the forecast screensaver
Fall & Halloween	At dusk and by night, carved jack-o’-lanterns, corn stalks and hay bales at the foot of the trees, their candles flickering; leaves fall by day. Spooky nights add the big moon, bats and the witch.
Christmas	The two big trees wrapped in warm white lights, a snowman and presents, by day, at dusk and by night. After dark the lights glow and twinkle one by one, and snow drifts. On a Christmas night a big full moon rises between the clock and Home Status, and the sleigh flies across it.
Fourth of July	Bunting and café lights strung between the trees and a flag beside them, all day; after dark the lights glow and fireworks burst over the hills.
Birthdays	Two bunches of balloons staked in the grass beside the trees, swaying, with confetti. Over whatever season the birthday falls in.
The rest	The season’s own landscape, with the decoration’s particles and flyby (petals and a butterfly, hearts, crystals, sparkles, a rocket or a fairy) over it.

Dates and days

Each decoration’s page in HK Settings → Sky / Background has:

• Starts and Ends: its window (a window may run past New Year). Thanksgiving’s can end on Thanksgiving Day. Reset to Default Dates goes back to the built-in ones.
• Days: which days in its window it shows, as above.

Liveliness

How many of the little moving things there are -- bats, geese, falling leaves, petals, fireflies, snow sparkles -- and how often the ones that cross come by: the witch, Santa’s sleigh, a flyby, a shooting star, a firework.

All Screens → Sky / Background → Liveliness sets one choice for every decoration, woodland season and the Night Sky: Subtle, Classic (the default), Festive or Party. Choose Custom to set each one its own: Each Occasion then lists them all, and each one’s page (a decoration’s own page, a woodland season’s, the Night Sky’s) has its Liveliness:

Choice	What it does
Subtle	A few touches, now and then.
Classic	As it has always been (the default).
Festive	Busier, and more often.
Party	Everything, as often as it comes.
Custom	Each effect your own way: a slider for how many or how often (Off, Few, Normal, Lots, Max; for a crossing Never, Rarely, Normal, Often, Very Often), a switch for one that is only on or off (the owl, the mist, the rainbow, the lights’ twinkle). It starts from the choice it was on.

Custom lists only the effects your decoration style draws: the owl, the geese and the swarm are New Decorations; the snowfall is Old Decorations’. A crossing that comes more or less often still crosses at the same speed.

Each screen can have its own, the same way, on its Sky / Background page: Same as All Screens (the default), one of the four for every occasion, or Custom -- its own Each Occasion list, each with a preset or its own sliders, just for that screen. A slow tablet can be Subtle everywhere, or a bedroom screen calm only on Halloween.

Calm When Nobody’s Around (a screen run by a wall tablet whose Room is set, when that room has an occupancy, motion or presence sensor): half as much moves while the room has been empty for five minutes, and all of it again as soon as someone is there. Nothing is rebuilt either way.

Sky Lab (?skylab on any dashboard, Tools) previews every choice, and Show Me Now sends the next crossing across at once.

Advanced

HK Settings → Sky / Background → Advanced:

Setting	What it does
Hemisphere	Southern moves Spring Garden to Sep 22 – Dec 20 and Winter Wonderland to Jun 21 – Sep 21. The holidays keep their dates.
Holiday Season	Optional: a sensor whose state is Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas, if your house already keeps its own holiday calendar. It then decides which season it is; the dates still limit when the sky decorates.
Moon Phase	Optional: a sensor giving the moon’s phase from 0 to 1 (0 new, 0.5 full). Without one, the phase is worked out from the date.
Also Needs	Optional: an input boolean or switch that must also be on for decorations to show.

Sky settings

Beside the Sky / Background page, a live preview shows your Home screen’s sky right now. Open a decoration and the preview shows it on your Home screen -- whatever today’s date, even while it is turned off -- with Day, Night and, for Fall & Halloween, Spooky Night to switch between. Only the preview changes; your screens keep today’s sky.

Setting	Default	What it does
Background	Live Sky	Live Sky, Color, Photo or Landscapes (The Background). Decorations show only on the Live Sky; Color, Photo and Landscapes are still. Each screen can choose its own.
Clouds	Classic	Realistic draws photographic clouds instead of the drifting haze (Live Sky). Each screen can choose its own.
Daytime Sky	Natural	How bright the midday blue runs: Natural, Balanced or Deep (Live Sky). Each screen can choose its own.
Seasonal Decorations	On	Pauses every decoration. The same switch as Seasonal decorations on the HK Frontend device.
Decoration Style	Old Decorations	New Decorations draws the seasons and holidays as close woodland scenery (above). Each screen can choose its own.
Moving Things	Behind the Cards	In Front of the Cards lets the bats, the witch and the sleigh, falling leaves and petals, snow, confetti and fireflies cross over the cards (taps still reach them). Fireworks stay behind. Each screen can choose its own.
Liveliness	Classic	Subtle, Classic, Festive or Party for every decoration, woodland season and the Night Sky, or Custom (Liveliness). Each screen can choose its own.
Each Occasion	—	With Liveliness Custom. Every decoration, woodland season and the Night Sky (the forecast screensaver’s twinkling and shooting stars), each with its own Liveliness.
Woodland Between Occasions	All Seasons	With New Decorations, which seasons' woodland — Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter — shows on days with no holiday or birthday, each season on its own page with its Show and Liveliness. Separate from each holiday's Show.
(each decoration)	On	Opens its page (below).
Sky Switch	None (Always On)	An input boolean or switch. While it is off, no generated screen shows the live sky. A YAML screen names its own. Each screen can choose a still Color or a Photo instead (The Background).
Advanced	—	Opens the Advanced page (below): the hemisphere, sources, and what decorations need.

Each decoration’s page:

Setting	What it does
Show (decoration)	Turns this decoration on or off.
Liveliness	With Sky / Background → Liveliness Custom. How many little moving things and how often they come: Subtle, Classic, Festive, Party or Custom (Liveliness). Otherwise the row says the one choice for every occasion.
Starts · Ends	Its dates. A window may run past New Year. Reset to Default Dates goes back to the built-in ones.
Days	Seasons (Fall & Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas): Every Day, Sometimes (some days, more often as the last day nears, always the final days) or Only the Last Days. Spring Garden and Winter Wonderland: Often, Sometimes or Rarely. Storybook Magic and Space Night: Once, Twice or Four Times a Month.
Spooky Nights	Fall & Halloween. Sometimes, Every Night or Never: a big moon, fog, bats and a witch.

Decoration	Default dates	Default days
Fall & Halloween	Sep 22 – Oct 31	Sometimes; Spooky Nights Sometimes
Thanksgiving	Nov 1 – Thanksgiving Day	Sometimes
Christmas	Dec 7 – Dec 25	Sometimes
Fourth of July	Jun 28 – Jul 4	Every day between its dates
Valentine’s Day	Feb 8 – Feb 14	Every day between its dates
Spring Garden	Mar 20 – Jun 20 (Southern: Sep 22 – Dec 20)	Sometimes (about one day in seven)
Winter Wonderland	Dec 21 – Mar 19 (Southern: Jun 21 – Sep 21)	Sometimes (about one day in eight)
Storybook Magic	—	Once a Month
Space Night	—	Once a Month
Birthdays	—	On the day. Add each person’s name, month and day under Add Birthday.

The Advanced page’s settings are under Advanced above.