It's the holiday season! Which means relatives, presents -- and lights, lights, lights. And one lucky person will get a present all about the lights. Stage Directions and 4Wall are teaming up to send lighting designer to the USITT expo or the Helmsley portfolio review in New York City. Check out item number one of my year-end "Best of" list below, or just head over to bit.ly/sd4wallcontest to find out the details.

But before we get to the list, here's to all the theatres out there working to bring you A Christmas Carol, Nutcracker, A Christmas Story, or any other holiday show -- and every single New Year's Eve party around. Stagehands, performers, front of house, producers -- whoever you are, thanks for putting in the long hours to make sure we have a good holiday!

End of the year also means "Best of" lists! I can't give away my "Best of" show list yet -- it gets published next week, and I don't want to jump the gun. But I can name a few other bests this year!

1 - Best Tradeshow

USITT continues to be a great show for theatre wonks. The exhibition show floor keeps getting bigger and better, with more manufacturers showing up each year and networking opportunities galore for college, grad school and especially career. Plus the jam-packed session schedule means you can learn a heckuva lot, too. Here's where it gets better! Stage Directions and 4Wall Entertainment are teaming up to send a lighting designer to the show. All you have to do is submit a video of 10 lighting cues in a show (one that reached production, or just one you designed in order to win a contest) to 4Wall by February 26. You can check out all the details at bit.ly/sd4wallcontest. So curl up with some eggnog and get designing!

2 - Best New Stage Management Blog!

Stage management continues to be popular to our members. We're making them even happier with a new stage management blog on Stage Directions. Recent posts include how to handle making theatre in the face of events like the attacks in Paris (bit.ly/sdsmparis), translation sheets to make sure your technical terms are understood in your international shows (bit.ly/sdsmtranslation) and with all the productions of A Christmas Carol happening, we even have a post on ghosts (bit.ly/smghosts).

3 - Best Hints to my Best Shows

OK, so I may not be able to name by "Best of" shows yet, but here's some clues to shows I love this year that were all put on by theatre local to me -- except for one Broadway musical. (And no, it's not Hamilton -- mainly because I haven't seen it yet...) Let me know your guesses for these shows, and let me know what you liked this year!

August: Osage Author's Hemipteric Thriller

The Mouse's Jungle Yodeler

Non-Sentimental Sapphic Sketcher (with Songs)

Punishment that Geo-locks Kids