Endings And New Beginnings (December 2022 Desktop Wallpapers Edition)

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Cosima has been an editor at SmashingMag since 2013. Whenever she’s not writing articles for the weekly Smashing Newsletter, she’s probably working on a … More about Cosima ↬

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December is almost here, so why not spread some holiday love across your devices? We’ve got some beautiful wallpapers to sweeten up the last days of the year.

2022 is slowly but surely coming to an end. And, well, could there be a better way to welcome the last few weeks of the year than with some beautiful, wintery desktop wallpapers? To get you in the right mood for December (and the holiday season, if you’re celebrating), artists and designers from across the globe once again got their ideas bubbling and created desktop wallpapers to sweeten up the month.

All wallpapers in this post are created with love and come in versions with and without a calendar for December 2022 — so no matter if you want to count down the days to the last deadline of the year or prefer to keep things rather minimalistic, we’ve got you covered. At the end of this post, we also compiled some December goodies from our wallpapers archives that are too good to be forgotten. Maybe you’ll spot one of your almost-forgotten favorites in there, too? Enjoy!

  • You can click on every image to see a larger preview,
  • We respect and carefully consider the ideas and motivation behind each and every artist’s work. This is why we give all artists the full freedom to explore their creativity and express emotions and experience through their works. This is also why the themes of the wallpapers weren’t anyhow influenced by us but rather designed from scratch by the artists themselves.
  • Submit a wallpaper!
    Did you know that you could get featured in our next wallpapers post, too? We are always looking for creative talent.

Winter Coziness At Home

“Winter coziness that we all feel when we come home after spending some time outside or when we come to our parental home to celebrate Christmas inspired our designers. Home is the place where we can feel safe and sound, so we couldn’t help ourselves but create this calendar. You can find more designs in our post.” — Designed by MasterBundles from Ukraine.

Winter Coziness At Home

Christmas Reindeer

“Thinking about the holiday season, it is impossible to appreciate all the colors that bring joy. Here, we combined Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with some Christmas cheer!” — Designed by Suu Ng from Portland, OR, USA.

Christmas Reindeer

December As A Gift

“Illuminate your problems with Christmas lights and watch them shrink with every twinkle. During the last month of the year, top your concerns with some candy cane and pretend they’re tasty sweets. December is all about endings and beginnings, so gift yourself resilience for the things yet to end and patience for the things to come.” — Designed by LibraFire from Serbia.

December As A Gift

Bat Christmas

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

Bat Christmas

Grumpy Santa

“Ho ho ho Christmas is near. PopArt has prepared a December calendar that exudes warmth and smells like gingerbread cookies. Our Santa may look a little grumpy, but be sure he brings the best gifts. Whispering: ‘When the time comes, look under your Christmas tree.’ PopArt Studio wishes you a Merry Christmas!” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

Grumpy Santa

Hot Hot Hot!

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

Hot Hot Hot!

Winter Forest Friend

“Today’s walk in the forest is a special one! Today you will make a new friend. Follow me into the forest and walk slowly. The weather is amazing today, isn’t it? The snowflakes seem soft and the snow is fresh and puffy! There are colourful speckles of light dancing all around us and the air feels so fresh. Oh wait… there he is! Look ahead! Yes, there he is, our special forest friend that only comes out during winter! Say hello to Franklin, the fluffy polar bear! He loves Christmas and he has some wonderful winter stories to share with you!” — Designed by Creative Pinky from the Netherlands.

Winter Forest Friend

Oldies But Goodies

Ready for a trip back in time? Below you’ll find a selection of December wallpapers from our archives. Please note that these designs don’t come with a calendar.

Dear Moon, Merry Christmas

“Please visit the Vladstudio website if you like my works!” — Designed by Vlad Gerasimov from Georgia.

Dear Moon, Merry Christmas

On To The Next One

“Endings intertwined with new beginnings, challenges we rose to and the ones we weren’t up to, dreams fulfilled and opportunities missed. The year we say goodbye to leaves a bitter-sweet taste, but we’re thankful for the lessons, friendships, and experiences it gave us. We look forward to seeing what the new year has in store, but, whatever comes, we will welcome it with a smile, vigor, and zeal.” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

On To The Next One

Anonymoose

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

Anonymoose

The House On The River Drina

“Since we often yearn for a peaceful and quiet place to work, we have found inspiration in the famous house on the River Drina in Bajina Bašta, Serbia. Wouldn’t it be great being in nature, away from the civilization, swaying in the wind and listening to the waves of the river smashing your house, having no neighbors to bother you? Not sure about the Internet, though…” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

Christmas Wallpaper — The House On The River Drina

Cardinals In Snowfall

“During Christmas season, in the cold, colorless days of winter, Cardinal birds are seen as symbols of faith and warmth. In the part of America I live in, there is snowfall every December. While the snow is falling, I can see gorgeous Cardinals flying in and out of my patio. The intriguing color palette of the bright red of the Cardinals, the white of the flurries and the brown/black of dry twigs and fallen leaves on the snow-laden ground fascinates me a lot, and inspired me to create this quaint and sweet, hand-illustrated surface pattern design as I wait for the snowfall in my town!” — Designed by Gyaneshwari Dave from the United States.

Cardinals In Snowfall

December Through Different Eyes

“As a Belgian, December reminds me of snow, coziness, winter, lights, and so on. However, in the Southern Hemisphere, it is summer at this time. With my illustration, I wanted to show the different perspectives on December. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!” — Designed by Jo Smets from Belgium.

Christmas Wallpaper — December Through Different Eyes

Enchanted Blizzard

“A seemingly forgotten world under the shade of winter glaze hides a moment where architecture meets fashion and change encounters steadiness.” — Designed by Ana Masnikosa from Belgrade, Serbia.

Enchanted Blizzard

Ninja Santa

Designed by Elise Vanoorbeek from Belgium.

Ninja Santa

Silver Winter

Designed by Violeta Dabija from Moldova.

Smashing Wallpaper - January 2011

King Of Pop

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

King Of Pop

Abstract Winter

“Winter is cold and dark up here in the north.” Designed by Terese Brännström from Sweden.

Abstract winter

Catch Your Perfect Snowflake

“This time of year, people tend to dream big and expect miracles. Let your dreams come true!” Designed by Igor Izhik from Canada.

Catch Your Perfect Snowflake

Winter Garphee

“Garphee’s flufiness glowing in the snow.” Designed by Razvan Garofeanu from Romania.

Smashing Wallpaper - December 2012

Cozy

“December is all about coziness and warmth. Days are getting darker, shorter, and colder. So a nice cup of hot cocoa just warms me up.” — Designed by Hazuki Sato from Belgium.

Cosy

Christmas Woodland

Designed by Mel Armstrong from Australia.

Christmas Woodland

Getting Hygge

“There’s no more special time for a fire than in the winter. Cozy blankets, warm beverages, and good company can make all the difference when the sun goes down. We’re all looking forward to generating some hygge this winter, so snuggle up and make some memories.” — Designed by The Hannon Group from Washington D.C.

Getting Hygge

Winter Wonderland

“‘Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.’ (Edith Sitwell) — Designed by Dipanjan Karmakar from India.

Christmas Wallpaper — Winter Wonderland

The Southern Hemisphere Is Calling

“Santa’s tired of winter (and the North Pole) and is flying to the southern part of the globe to relax a little bit. He deserves a little vacation, don’t you think?” — Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

The Southern Hemisphere Is Calling

Cold Outside

“In December it is cold outside, so cute giraffe with scarf. Winter in Africa.” — Designed by Kim Lemin from Belgium.

Christmas Wallpaper — Cold Outside

Christmas Time

Designed by Sofie Keirsmaekers from Belgium.

Christmas Time!

Joy To The World

“Joy to the world, all the boys and girls now, joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea, joy to you and me.” — Designed by Morgan Newnham from Boulder, Colorado.

Joy To The World

Ice Flowers

“I took some photos during a very frosty and cold week before Christmas.” Designed by Anca Varsandan from Romania.

Smashing Wallpaper - january 10

Christmas Cookies

“Christmas is coming and a great way to share our love is by baking cookies.” — Designed by Maria Keller from Mexico.

Christmas Cookies

Tongue Stuck On Lamppost

Designed by Josh Cleland from the United States.

Smashing Wallpaper - december 11

Winter Morning

“Early walks in the fields when the owls still sit on the fences and stare funny at you.” — Designed by Bo Dockx from Belgium.

Winter Morning

Coming Home

“December is undoubtedly the family month. As a civil engineer I worked abroad, and this was the only month we were guaranteed to return home to be with our families. I tried to represent this in my illustration, using, naturally, my namesake: Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer. Even he has the right…” — Designed by Rodolfo Henriques from Portugal.

Coming Home

Dream What You Want To Do

“The year will end, hope the last month, you can do what you want to do, seize the time, cherish yourself, expect next year we will be better!” — Designed by Hong Zi-Qing from Taiwan.

Dream What You Want To Do

It’s What’s Inside That Counts

“Family, friends, memories and environment inspired me so much in creating a wallpaper. Ideas for artworks sometimes come out of the blue, so this time, it’s inspired by my beautiful, naughty niece, Shammy. Ho ho ho! Christmas renews our youth by stirring out our wonder, and wondering in it are born our art!” — Designed by Marina Etuci from Malaysia, now residing in Taiwan.

It’s What’s Inside That Counts

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