100 Totally Fun Things to do at Christmas

 

There's a reason so many people feel like the holiday season is an impossible whirl of activity, errands, and obligations: took me less than an hour to brainstorm the following list of 100 traditional ways to celebrate the Christmas season.

Perhaps this list will help remind you of traditions you might otherwise overlook ... or inspire you to build new holiday traditions with the people you love.

1. Find the Perfect Tree.  Nothing gets my family in the Christmas mood like our annual trip to the local Christmas tree lot in early December.  The smell of fresh-cut evergreen, our breath emerging in puffs in the chill evening air, little kids playing hide-and-seek among the stands, the thrill of finding the perfect tree and tying it onto the top of the car ... all of these make this one of my very favorite Christmas rituals.
2. Slay your own Christmas tree. Or, look up Christmas tree farms, load up your handsaw, and get the freshest tree there is.
3. Decorate the tree (or trees!). You can use the same ornaments every year, or get creative and create a new tree every year with decorations you collect and/or make yourself.  (See Theme Christmas Tree Ideas.)
4. Make Christmas Tree ornaments.  Check out any of the hundreds of websites, books and/or magazines packed with homemade ornament ideas: there's something for every taste, price, and ability level.
5. Set up a train around the base of your tree.  All the kids in your family will flock to your house to play with it.
6. Create a Wreath.  Choose from dozens of ideas: floral wreaths, grapevine wreaths, holly wreaths, fruit wreaths, candy wreaths, jingle bell wreaths, etc. (See Wreath Ideas)
7. Deck the halls with boughs of holiday. Channel your inner Fezziwig and drape festoons of pine and holly from the rafters or doorframes.  (Those 3M wall hooks with the removeable two-sided tape work well for this.)
8. Don't forget the poinsettia. Every part of the house looks more festive with forsythia.  Grocery stores often sell small pots very inexpensively - as low as $1/plant - so buy a bunch!
9. It Takes a Village.  Set up one of those store-bought holiday villages on a nice crisp piece of white felt to simulate the season.  Kids particularly enjoy the sets that feature moving parts.
10. Light a candle.  The tradition of placing a lighted candle in the window of a house on Christmas eve harks back to the day when it was a symbol of welcome to Mary and Joseph as they travelled looking for shelter.  
11. Go retro.  Revive bygone holiday traditions such as draping your tree with tinsel, spraying your windows with fake snow, or draping popcorn/cranberry chains over the doorways of your house. 
12. Countdown to Christmas. Advent calendars come in all sizes and shapes, but the idea is the same: starting Dec 1, members of the family open one door each day until they reach Dec 25.  My favorites are the advent calendars with a little gift (a piece of candy, a candle, an ornament) behind each door.
13. Create an Outdoor Display. Share the joy of the holiday with your neighbors.  Feel free to do this tastefully (modest white lights along the roofline, perhaps a grapevine deer grazing in the yard) or dazzle them with a display of lights gaudy enough to humble Chevy Chase's character in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
14. View Outdoor Christmas decorations.  The internet has become a great source for finding local houses and neighborhoods that stage particularly beautiful and/or tacky displays
15. Decorate the table for holiday dinner. The holidays are the perfect opportunity to show off your best china, linens and glassware.  This year, consider leaving the table set so others can admire the finery.
16. Enjoy a traditional holiday dinner.  Prepare a traditional holiday dinner, complete with roast beast (beef, duck, goose), robust side dishes (pumpkin, potatoes, carrots), and festive desserts (plum pudding).
17. Enjoy Christmas Day breakfast. Christmas dinner may be more traditional, but don't overlook the opportunity to establish Christmas day breakfast/brunch as a family favorite.  We make the meal special for the kids by serving pancakes in the shape of snowmen, with chocolate chip eyes, mouths, and buttons.
18. Prepare traditional foods.  Many families use the holidays as an opportunity to incorporate foods that reflect their racial or cultural heritage.  For instance, it wouldn't be Christmas at our house without the Baking of the Pasca, a traditional Slovak bread that's served with ham and pounds of butter.  (See It's Beginning to Taste a Lot Like Christmas.)
19. Get nutty.  Back in the day, nuts were called "sweetmeats" and were a major holiday tradition.  So pull out your favorite nutcracker and indulge.
20. Bake cookies. Perhaps the most traditional of holiday traditions!  To make this traditional activity more fun, my BFF and I always get together to do our baking at the same time, then we swap half of what we make so that each of us ends up with twice as many varieties.
21. Give cookies.  Cookies are a great way to spread cheer to coworkers, teachers, neighbors and others who are an important part of your life.  My second favorite thing to do with cookies (besides eating them): cookie exchange parties! 
22. Create with gingerbread. Make gingerbread cookies, gingerbread people, or gingerbread houses.  (One of our family customs is an annual gingerbread house decorating contest.)  It's festive and it smells great!
23. Enjoy holiday libations. Enjoy any of the many libations - wassail, egg nog, hot chocolate, mulled wine - traditionally associated with the season.
24. Eat fruitcake.  Do yourself a favor - bypass the store brands and spend a little extra to purchase a gourmet version from one of the better outlets: Macys, Harrods, etc.  Your stomach (and your teeth) will thank you.
25. Go to church.  Remember the reason for the season.  Give thanks to God for all His blessings.
26. Host a pageant. Sunday schools are the absolute best place to recruit for actors to reenact the night of Jesus's birth.
27. Display your creche. Remember Christ's birth with a creche inside or outside your home.  Stores sell nativity scenes ranging from traditional to art deco, from tabletop size to larger than life.  The one we display is really quite simple - curved grapevines arching over unpainted creamy ceramic figures - but suits our decor, and our faith.
28. Listen to the pealing of bells.  For me, there's no sound more associated with the holidays than the sound of bells - from the great booming peal of church bells to the hearty music of sleigh bells to the tinny clatter of jingle bells.  I like to hang sleigh bells from my doorknobs so that everytime I go in or out, I get to enjoy their heartening cheer.
29. Light candles.  Christmas is best celebrated by candlelight, from chandeliers alight with candles at ancient churches to the flickering glow of cinnamon-cented tea candles glowing through festive hurricanes at home.
30. Put on a pot of potpourri.  Christmas is also a season of delicious smells - evergreen, clove, frankenscence, cinnamon.  Fill your house with pretty bowls of potpourri or a leave a teapot filled with fragrance heating on your stove all season.
31. Put on a play.  Challenge the kids in your family to stage their own version of A Christmas Carol or The Night Before Christmas, or to invent a script of their own that celebrates the magic of the season.
32. Go wassailing.  Go caroling around your neighborhood, or carol in front of a local church or landmark.  (See Most Popular Christmas Carols)
33. Burn a yule log.  One of my favorite pagan traditions is the burning of the yule log.  The Druids would bless a log and keep it burning 12 days during the winter solstice; part of the log was kept for the following year, when it would be used to light the new yule log.  At the 400yr old college I attended, a yule log was burned in the largest, most ancient of the school's fireplaces: students would then file by hurling sprigs of holly into the fire for good luck.  (Predictably, there was always a rush to fit this in before taking finals.)
34. Roast things over the fire. All you need is a fireplace to indulge in such seasonal favorites as making popcorn over a live flame, roasting chestnuts, or melting marshmallows for homemade s'mores. 
35. Hang stockings.  Just make sure you use hooks sturdy enough to support a weight of coal ... just in case.
36. Go shopping. It's a shame this is the tradition most people probably think about first, and devote the most time to.  Which isn't to say that shopping isn't wonderful fun, especially that warm glow that comes from finding the perfect gift for someone you care about.
37. Enjoy the last minute panic. I have my grandmother to thank for introducing me to this seasonal tradition.  The idea is to finish your own shopping, then sit yourself up at a small table in the middle of your local shopping mall (preferrably with a cup of coffee to sip and perhaps a couple of gourmet chocolates to nibble on) and enjoy the energy - and occassional panic - of folks rushing by who aren't yet done.
38. Plan your Day After Christmas holiday shopping.  As you are shopping, make a list of items you'd love to purchase but that are to extravagent - or pricy - to justify.  Then use the list to guide your "day after Christmas" shopping, in hopes the items you covet will be on sale.
39. Indulge your inner child.  It is said that Christmas is a holiday for children: fortunately, all of us are children inside.  So go ahead!  Give yourself permission to visit a toy store; linger at a storefront to watch the toy train wend their way through tunnels and around bends; gape at gingerbread house displays; or thumb through the Sears Holiday Giftbook and figure out what you'd ask for if you were a kid.   
40. Make wish lists.  Someone's sure to ask you what you want for Christmas.  Be ready!  Online stores are especially convenient for windowshopping, and often offer "wish lists" where you can store your favorites.
41. Gape at shopping mall decorations.  Malls typically pull out all the stops to turn themselves into festive destinations during the Christmas season.  (Don't feel bad - they have a lot more money to spend than you, and professional designers to help them.)
42. Visit historic houses. Hunt out historical/notable homes in your area and enjoy the period decorations.  I'm fortunate enough to live in  the Virginia/D.C. where it's possible to visit a different historic house, mill, estate, or manor every day.
43. Take a hay ride/sleigh ride/horse-drawn carriage ride.  There's something magical about feeling the crisp air on your face and looking up at the stars as the rhythmic clop of horse's hooves keeps time.
44. See a show.  Local theaters often perform holiday-related works.  Here in D.C. it's not really Christmas unless you land tickets to see A Christmas Carol at Ford's Theater.
45. Take in a concert.  Local choirs, symphonies, bands and performing groups all traditionally perform during the holiday season.  I'm a particular sucker for chorus sing-alongs, acapella groups, big-band swing Christmas celebrations, and handbell concerts. 
46. Messiah sing-along.  Tradition has it that upon finishing the final note of his Hallelujah Chorus, Handel burst out of his study, tears streaming from his eyes, exclaiming: "I think I did see Heaven before me, and the great God Himself."  Join a few dozen of your fellow citizens to perform this amazing work of music live and I dare you not to experience a similar sense of the miraculous.  
47. See The Nutcracker. Another holiday tradition, and who knows? Maybe you'll witness the next Gelsey Kirkland making her 12-yr old debut as Clara Stahlbaum.
48. Attend (or watch) a holiday parade. If your community doesn't host a holiday parade, then be sure not to miss the granddaddy of them all - the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - on television.  
49. Visit holiday destinations.  If you're lucky enough to have one in the area, take a roadtrip to a holiday destination such as Santa's Village (many states have them) or specialty Christmas super-stores.  Large amusement parks like Busch Gardens, Six Flags and Kings Dominion sometimes also open their gates for the season, highlighting holiday entertainment, decorations, and activities for the kids.
50. Visit a holiday craft festival.  Lots of local organizations (churches, schools) raise money by selling crafts during the holiday season. Or attend one of the larger, more commercial craft fairs that often rent out expo or conference centers at this time of the year.
51. Go ice skating. Strap on a pair of skates and remember that no matter how many times you fall, there's always the consolation of a steaming cup of hot chocolate at the end of the outing.  I have a particular affection for outdoor skating rinks because I like to pretend I'm gliding through the stars above.
52. Order a holiday beverage at Starbucks. It's simply not Christmas until I've had my first gingerbread latte of the season!
53. Dyour car.  Favorites around here include mounting wreaths on the front grill and/or affixing red rudolph noses between the cars' headlights.  However, I save my highest praises for those who figure out how to actually drape their cars with Christmas lights!
54. Decorate your pet. Buy your dog/cat/bunny/etc. a santa suit/hat, take their picture, and then use it as your Facebook picture for the rest of the season.  You know you want to.
55. Watch holiday movies. So many to choose from! But we have certain favorites that we watch every year, always in the company of the same traditional group of family/friends.  (See 60 Favorite Christmas Movies)
56. Watch holiday specials on television. I know that these days you can buy just about any holiday special on DVD, but there's something special and a little magical about checking each weeks' television listings to see when ACharlie Brown Christmas is due to air, and then counting down the days to it's arrival, that can't be matched in video format.  Or perhaps for your family it's How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, or The Little Drummer Boy.
57. Listen to holiday music. You can create your own holiday playlist on iTunes or tune into a local radio station that plays holiday music 24/7 throughout the season.
58. Enjoy old time radio holiday broadcasts. Go to the Library of Congress audio site and download the Campbell's Playhouse version of A Christmas Carol, with Lionel Barrymore as Scrooge.  Or download Lux Radio Theater's radio version of the movies It's A Wonderful Life or Miracle on 34th Street, featuring the original actors.  Or if you're in the mood for something really sentimental, download the Command Performance Concerts that were beamed to our troops oversees during WWII, featuring guest appearances by Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and a bevy of starlets. 
59. Play. Take advantage of time with your family to bond over board games, card games, jigsaw puzzles.  Or, make like Scrooge's nephew and amuse yourself with such Victorian favorites as Blind Man's Bluff, charades or 20 Questions.
60. Tell stories. Share stories about Christmases past: long past or your past. To this day one of my most treasured holiday memories was listening to a friend's grandfather recount his memories of the Christmas truce of WWII.
61. Christmas coloring. An activity everyone in the family can enjoy, and when you're done you can cut out the pictures and hang them on walls or windows as decoration.
62. Show off your tackiest holiday sweater. Embrace this unfortunate tradition by embracing "Your Tackiest Holiday Sweater" as a theme for a holiday gathering. I particularly enjoy the ones that manage to work in kittens, gold lame, and/or flashing lights.
63. Show off your tackiest holiday jewelry. I'm always amazed at what otherwise fashionable people will wear in their ears, around their necks, or pinned to their sweaters over the holidays.
64. Wear your Santa hat in public. It's the one time of the year when you can wear a goofy hat out of doors and no one will think any less of you.  (Additional advantage: Santa hats tend to be wonderfully warm, which makes them perfect for outdoor holiday events like caroling or ice skating.)
65. Christmas on your computer. Download a Christmasy screensaver, send ecards, hunt for holiday recipes, look up craft ideas, and/or visit holiday websites to enjoy such games as "Rudolph the Redneck Reindeer."  
66. Take a walk outside on a brisk winter day (or night). Especially when things start to get crazy busy, it's important to spend quiet time alone with all the good things He created, like brisk winter air, brilliant stars, bare limbs scratching in the breeze, and the whispering hush of falling snow.
67. Write a letter to Santa. One upshot of this wonderful tradition (besides helping you figure out what your children want for Christmas) is that it creates a wonderful annual snapshot of your child's handwriting, priorities, and temperament.  Now that our kids have grown, they love chuckling over the letters they once wrote.
68. Hang with Santa. No matter where you live, Santa is sure to be making a guest appearance somewhere, so drop by and pay your respects. 
69. Track Santa.  Every Christmas Eve, NORAD (the U.S. North American Air Defense facility) uses its high-tech radar and satellite resources to provide real-time tracking of Santa's sled as it criss-crosses the globe.  Kids love this and, frankly, even most adults find the site charming! 
70. Pop holiday crackers. You can buy them at nicer department stores or make your own.  The little prizes help keep kids from growing too impatient at the sloooow passage of time Christmas Eve.
71. Lighten up.  Don't stress out!  Give yourself permission to laugh at stupid Christmas carols (The Ten Pains of Christmas is a personal favorite); make fun of over-the-top holiday decorations; invent goofy holiday traditions (ex: dangling a stuffed santa suit from your roof so that it looks like he's falling); or participate in Santarchy, a national event with celebrations in most major cities.
72. Celeberate with Family.  Don't get so caught up with the superficial stuff like shopping and cooking that you forget one of the main reasons for the season: spending time with family. Be sure to find a way to include distant relatives, whether via a phone call, photos, or a holiday visit via Skype.
73. Celebrate with friends. Make time to share holiday traditions with friends, attend parties, and entertain: it's the one time of year when it's considered perfectly appropriate to throw your house open and allow friends from all your different activities and venues to meet and mix.
74. Celebrate with your co-workers. Assemble for an office party, cookie exchange, or Secret Santa gift exchange. A good office party is one that allows folks to feel able to relax and share their warmer, more human sides with co-workers.
75. Celebrate with your neighbors. Have a decorating contest, host a progressive hors devours party, or go carolling as a group.  Christmas is a great time to reach out to new neighbors and reconnect with old friends.
76. Pose for a family portrait.  Christmas is a great excuse to coax the family into posing for an annual photo, whether your goal is to create a customized Christmas card or to discretely slide the result into the family photo album for posterity.
77. Create holiday cards.  Holiday cards are easy to make, and family/friends won't soon forget the care you took to create something customized and special just for them.
78. Send holiday cards.  I have little patience with people who complain: "I stopped sending cards out because it was too much bother/It's a waste of money/I never got any back."  This is the one time of year when it's appropriate to reach out to the people who have made your life special; the point isn't to solicit thanks or responses, but to make sure they know that they remain in your thoughts and prayers.  So suck it up and start licking envelopes: this is one lovely tradition that should never be allowed to lapse.
79. Send holiday letters. I confess I'm also a fan of the much-maligned Christmas letter.  True, I've read some pretty awful ones.  The trick, I think, is to (1) only include the news people besides yourselves will care about, (2) avoid sounding pretentious, and (3) be sure to include anecdotes and stories that remind folks why they like you.
80. Entertain.  There are so many seasonal-themed party ideas to choose from!  So there's no excuse not to get together with family, friends, "the girls", "the guys", "the kids", or your community.  (See Fun Themed Christmas Parties)
81. Make homemade gifts.  Not only do homemade gifts show that you care enough about someone to spend time on them, but they can also be a frugal option if you have limited resources and/or a big family.  For ideas, see 90+ Homemade Gift Ideas.
82. Exchange gifts.  The trope may be aged but it's true: there are few joys to match the pleasure of picking out the perfect gift for someone, then watching the smile of delight light up their face when they open it.  Feel sorry for folks who think of exchanging gifts as an obligation rather than as an opportunity.  
83. Tag it.  Gift tags make a great mini-craft project.  Create them out of fabric, cookies, ornaments, tinsel, pictures trimmed from Christmas cards left over from past years, novelty papers, fabric ... pretty much anything!
84. Dressed for success.  Wrapping can be a lot of fun if you let it.  Experiment with different papers, tags and bows.  My mom is a brilliant wrapper who likes to take her inspiration from the pattern of the paper: snowy paper sporting a festive paper ski jump; evergreen paper lapped by popcorn-cranberry "ribbon"; teddy bear paper topped by a brown felt bow.  Or consider wrapping a small gift card in an enormous box, just for the reaction you get!
85. Work It Out.  Many stores take on extra help at Christmas, which makes the holidays a great time to earn a little extra money.  If you don't like the idea of standing behind a cash register all day, consider a job stocking shelves, pushing carts, wrapping gifts, or working as a Santa's helper.
86. Give.  Donate money, toys, food or gifts.  There are a wealth of organizations that rely on holiday donations to see them though the year ... and, unfortunately, a wealth of families who rely on holiday food baskets to last them through the month. 
87. Volunteer.  If you can't afford to donate money, toys, food or gifts, donate time.  There are plenty of organizations looking for help collecting donations, wrapping/packaging donated gifts, and preparing/serving food to those in need.  (See blog entry, Community Service Project Ideas)
88. Visit shut-ins. They don't have to be your shut-ins ... most communities have a retirement center or other facility for senior citizens.  Nor do you have to make a big production out of it: just stop by to share a meal with someone, or watch television with them, or listen to their stories.  (Senior citizens always have the best stories.)  
89. Say Thank You.  Distribute cards, small gifts, or tips to people the people who you are grateful for - teachers, the paperboy, the postman, the garbageman, that checker at the grocery store who always gives candy to your kids and brightens your day.
90. Make Amends.  Take advantage of the general goodwill of the season to make amends for any wrongs you've done during the past year.  It's the perfect season to ask for forgiveness, and your last chance to wipe the slate clean before starting the new year.
91. Engage in Random Acts of Kindness.  Clip coupons and leave them next to the items they discount. Offer free babysitting services to a stressed-out friend or colleague. Randomly pick a kettle and stuff a $20 through the slot.  Turn someone's car headlights off.  Let someone squeeze into traffic ahead of you.  Who knows - maybe they'll pass it forward and your small act of kindness will end up benefiting dozens of others.
92. Count your blessings.  I've seen this done various ways: create a blessing jar, write them on pretty paper and hang them from a tree.  Or you can do this the old fashioned way by getting down on your knees and giving thanks.
93. Be Kind to Critters.  Winter is a hard time for nature's untamed creatures.  Give them a hand by setting out seed for the birds, sharing a loaf of bread with your local ducks, or spreading pinecones with peanut butter and hurling them into the woods for smaller creatures to enjoy.
94. Share Traditions.  Christmas is a wonderful time to share your family's cultural, racial and/or religious traditions with new generations.  For instance, though my husband's family is 3rd generation Czech, we remember the past through traditions such as baking Czech dishes and hanging traditional Czech ornaments on the tree.  If you haven't preserved any traditions, it's never too late to start establishing new ones.
95. Remember Christmases past.  Remembering Christmases past - the bad ones along with the good ones - is an important way to refresh family memories and solidify family traditions.  This works best if you can find a way to involve multiple generations in the reminiscing.
96. Kiss Under the Mistletoe.  'Nuff said.
97. Celebrate All 12 Days. I don't recommend regalling your true love with 11 pipers piping (noisy) or 10 lord's a-leaping (destructive).  But do recommend allowing the holiday to extend the 12 days after December 25.  Often the run-up to the holiday becomes so frantic, there's little time left to fit equally important but less time-sensitive things like volunteering, spending time with family, and giving thanks.  Give yourself the gift of time: 12 extra days to enjoy the best things the season has to offer. 
98. Shop 'Til You Drop. Take advantage of the post-holiday sales to stock up on steeply discounted wrapping paper, cards, ornaments, and gifts for next year!
99. Create a Christmas scrapbook.  Gather together all your photos, momentoes (programs from concerts/shows, sheet music, party invites, shopping lists, letters to Santa, christmas cards, family newsletter, etc.) and Christmas memories and preserve them in a scrapbook.  If you use the same scrapbook every year, it will eventually become a treasured family heirloom, a record not only of Christmases past but of your family's history.
100. Start planning your New Years Resolutions. Because it's never too soon to figure out what resolutions you'll be breaking by the second week of January.

60+ Environmental Stewardship Project Ideas for Students

As a life science teacher, I am perhaps even more freaked out than "normal people" about the various environmental dooms overtaking us even as I type this: climate change, sustainability, water availability, mass extinction. Never has it been more important for our youngest generation to understand the role they can and must play in acting as responsible stewards of Earth and Earth's resources. 

Towards this end, I require my students (10-14yrs old) to perform four acts of environmental stewardship per year (one per quarter). You'd think this would be met by groans and complaints, but the truth is that most students are full of passion and idealism - they *want* to save the world, they're just not sure how! Which is why I've pulled together this continually-updated list of projects that are student friendly but that directly map to challenges that are facing our Earth today. 

Please - if you have any suggestions of activities that I might add to the list, leave me a comment below. I'm hoping this blog post will prove genuinely useful to other teachers hoping to implement or grow the emphasis on environmental stewardship in their own classrooms. 

Planting & Growing

1. Build a bird or bat house
2. Create a vertical garden
3. Create a container garden
4. Create an indoor window garden
5. Plant a butterfly, bee, or bat garden
6. Plant a vegetable, flower, spice, or medicine garden
7. Build a small greenhouse so that you can continue to grow your own vegetables throughout the winter
8. Plant a tree or bush (just make sure you pick an indigenous species!) 
9. Install a rain barrel
10. Build/create a composting program
11. Start composting
12. Use tree/plant identification guides to positively identify 10+ plants in your yard or neighborhood. Then figure out which ones are native vs. non-native to Virginia
13. Collect  & remove invasive species
14. Implement new landscaping techniques that will reduce either erosion, fertilizer use, or invasive species in your lawn
15. Create seed balls (native seeds only!) and disperse them around your community
16. Raise ladybugs (indigenous species) and set them lose in the community to eat bugs
17. Raise chickens
18. Raise bees 
19. Learn to identify local birds, and participate in a sponsored bird count project.

Water Quality & Conservation

1. Create a rain garden
2. Find an area where soil is eroding and entering the local watershed and implement a solution (erect a barrier, plant grass, etc.)
3. Pick up litter so that it doesn't wash into the local watershed
4. Begin taking 3-minute showers
5. Calculate your family’s water footprint. (There are many water footprint calculators online that you can use.) 
6. Mark local storm drains with stickers that remind people not to use them as chemical dumps
7. Acquire a lead water test kit and check the water at local public areas (libraries, schools, etc.) to make sure it is safe
8. Monitor water quality in a local watershed (pond, stream, or lake)

Sustainability

1. Reduce the amount of packaging that you accumulate when shopping by
1. Buying products that are sold in recycleable containers
2. Buying products that come in reusable packinging
3. Using reusable shopping bags (including bags for produce) 
4. Refusing straws, lids and excess plastic packaging
2. Brainstorm and implement strategies for reducing the amount of trash that your family produces
3. Identify a common single-use plastic pollutant and take an action that will help reduce the production/use of that plastic
4. Upcycle something that you would ordinarily throw in the trash
5. Donate/freecycle reusable items instead of throwing them away
6. Educate your community about what items are not recycleable
7. Purchase previously owned goods vs. buying new
8. Learn how to reduce the amount of junk mail you receive at home, and share this information with the community using a website, a brochure, or a newsletter.
9. Come up with a plan to reduce food waste in your house (or at your school)

Putting the Breaks on Climate Change 

1. Conduct an energy audit of your school or classroom
2. Eat more vegetarian meals
3. Eat more locally grown produce
4. Calculate your family’s carbon footprint
5. Reduce your family’s car trips
6. Reduce your family’s electricity use
7. Figure out the cost of switching your house to solar (you don’t have to switch to solar! Just research it)
8. Compare and contrast normal cars vs. hybrid cars vs. electric cars and figure out which one would make the most sense for your family.
9. Switch something in your house to an alternative energy source that doesn’t create Co2 pollution
10. Encourage members of your community to use natural vs. man-made fertilizers. (The production of man-made fertilizers is a major source of the greenhouse gas NO2.)

General Stewardship & Activism

1. Join a local club or organization dedicated to making your community more environmentally friendly
1. Organizations that plant trees and/or protect natural areas
2. Organizations that promote green architecture & development
2. Volunteer to help support an environmental stewardship project at a local park or nature center
3. Attend an event that showcases local environmental initiatives
4. Create flyers, posters or infographics to hang in your school, educating students about an environmental issues that concerns them
   
5. Initiate a project that will make your school greener. For example:  
1. eliminate plastic bottles by installing water fountains that refill reusable water bottles
2. Create a program that increases the number of students who bike to school (rather than getting dropped off by cars)
3. Advocate to install solar energy at your school
4. Clean up trash around your school
5. Plant trees on school property
6. Sponsor an athletic shoe recycling drive
6. Write your Congressman and tell them how you want them to vote on environmental issues impacting your neighborhood, town, or state
7. Become a citizen scientist - many websites offer opportunities for students to support ongoing scientific research by participating in bird counts, monitoring local water quality, logging local species, or other age-appropriate activities. 
8. Participate in a protest 
9. Conduct a fundraiser to raise money for an environmental issue that you are passionate about

The 11 Types of Teachers You Encounter at Every School

 As every language arts teacher knows, all the best fairy tales are populated by a cast of archetypical characters: the Hero, the Love Interest, the Sidekick, the Villain.  Along the same lines, having watched the parade of teachers come and go through our building over the years, I've identified 11 Teacher Archetypes.  Though of course many teachers possess elements of several different Types at once, I bet teachers reading this list will instantly identify examples of each of these Types among their colleagues past and present.

Please enjoy this deliberately irreverent, tongue-in-cheek overview of Teacher Archetypes, and feel free to comment if I've overlooked any of your personal favorites!

1. The Cheerleader. Cheerleaders are the True Believers - the ones who are so passionate about their calling that they'd be teachers even if they weren't earning those sky-high salaries. Idealists and visionaries, they believe that Children Are The Future and, therefore, teachers are the shapers and molders of the future, through the knowledge and values that they pass onto their students in the classroom. Cheerleaders endeavor to inspire a like passion in their students through strategies like dressing up as the historical characters they are teaching, sponsoring field trips to the local courthouse, and requiring their students to do community service work. Cheerleaders also tend to be the ones who volunteer to sponsor clubs like Model U.N., STEM Club, and Future Business Leaders of America. 
   
   
2. The Ditz.  Perpetually flustered, Ditzes always seems to be a little surprised and disconcerted to find themselves in charge of a classroom.  Surrounded by piles of unsorted, ungraded student work, they spend the first 5 minutes of every class looking for the warmup activity they've somehow misplaced and end every class several seconds after the bell has rung with an impossibly rushed series of last-minute stream-of-consciousness instructions: "Everyone put your papers in the tray and remember to take a study guide before you go and push your tables back where they were and turn in your homework before you leave and if you need to retake the test don't forget to stay after school and no one leaves until the floor is clean!"  Homework, tests, projects and grades are haphazard things, with constantly shifting deadlines and vague expectations. 
   
   
3. The Drowning Man. Pity the Drowning Man! Despite the most earnest and sincere of intentions, these teachers are so hopelessly mired in a quicksand of paperwork, overdue grades, and missed deadlines that they can barely keep their heads above water.  Drowning Men are easily recognizable by the look of  sad desperation in their eyes as they pass you at a stumbling run-walk in the hall, mumbling things like "why the hell would they schedule the kid-talk for Rudolfo at the same exact time I'm supposed to be at the IEP for Jenna?" trailing post-it note reminders in their wake like an comets trails chunks of ice.  The theme of every Drowning Man's classroom is "half finished" - from the half-finished bulletin board on the wall to the half-finished stack of copying in their chair; from the half-cleaned pile of glass labwear piled next to their sink to the half-graded stack of essays bulging out of their overstuffed carpetbags. 
   
   
4. The Emo.  The Emo's objective is to make sure every student feels special and loved. You know this because, somewhere on the wall of their classroom, there will be a posters that says, "You are special" and "You are loved" - probably nestled between posters of kittens and smiling scarecrows.  The Emo's class rules include such admonitions as "Be a Good Friend" and "Do Your Best." Good luck finding their desk, because it's likely to be buried under pictures of family/former students/pets, "#1 Teacher" mugs/figurines, and a 365 Reasons to Love a Teacher desk calendars. Ask an Emo for a pencil and they'll selflessly loan you their very favorite, most special pen ... but be sure you return it, because Emo's cry at the drop of a hat, especially when students disappoint them 
   
   
5. The Martha Stewart. You get the feeling that teaching is merely the price that Martha Stewarts pay for all the fun they derive from decorating their classrooms. Given dollar store bargains and unlimited washi tape, Martha Stewarts can hack basically any classroom need.  As teachers, they tend to assign projects that require construction paper, glitter, and mad origami skills.  If every class has its own color coded supplies, if you change the decorative theme of your classroom more than 4 times a year, or if you have a Pinterest board devoted to classroom organization, then you may be a Martha Stewart. 
   
   
6. The Sigma Six. Sigma Sixes, like their corporate peers, are models of professional excellence. They eat data, drink statistics, and breathe best practices. Their classrooms look like teaching Centers of Excellence: walls hung with word walls and anchor charts; technology strategically deployed at the optimum student:computer ratio; desks arrange to maximize instructional efficiency.  At CLT meetings, they're the ones spouting sentences such as: "What we need here is a research-based strategy for improving metacognition in our students with executive processing deficits." Their mastery of social skills tends to determine whether Sigma Sixes are beloved or loathed by their colleagues.
   
   
7. The Shill. Shills aspire to be Sigma Sixes, but are held back by their tragic gullibility. For Shills, alas, truly believe in the efficacy of every new educational fad. There's not an educational celebrity or book-of-the-month they haven't at one time or another worshiped as the next "one ring to rule them all." Over time, their teaching style resembles a schizophrenic tapestry of constantly changing educational strategies - one year, the Shill's classes are engrossed in self-directed reading; the next year, every activity incorporates a Kagan strategy; the year after that, the kids are rotating in a confused daze through differentiated centers. Administrators tend to love Shills because their unique blend of gullibility and zeal makes them perfect proselytizers for their whatever new educational initiative their county/state has required their schools to adopt.
   
   
8. The Subversive.  Dedicated to thwarting authority, Subversives are the most likely of the archetypes to skip out on staff meetings, bus duty, and required professional development. In the classroom, they teach what, when, and how they want, regardless of pacing guides, unit plans, or administrative guidance.  At staff meetings, they'll be the ones wearing Hawaiian shirts or teeshirts emblazoned with dry, learned puns. Their teaching style tends towards sarcasm and irony, and their decorating scheme towards the eclectic: old concert posters, wartime propoganda posters, a laboratory skeleton attired in a boa and mardi gras beads. Of all the teacher types, Subversives are the most likely to assign banned books as required reading, facilitate Socratic seminars on race relations, and entertain their class with spectacular chemical experiments of dubious safety.  
   
   
9. The Whiner. As their name suggests, Whiners thrive on a diet of unsatisfactory students, unreasonable administrators, over-demanding parents, rude colleagues, ridiculous educational expectations, and perceived slights. They also tend to believe that their complaints gain in validity the more frequently they are repeated; thus, having formulated a gripe, they tend to restate it over and over again until interrupted by aforementioned rude colleagues.  New, innocent teachers often make the mistake of assuming that Whiners are in search of guidance and good advice; soon, however, they realize that their efforts to alleviate the Whiner's grievance(s) tend to be greeted with resentment rather than relief. Note that Whiners aren't necessarily bad teachers - they just thrive on a diet of unrelieved disappointment.
   
   
10. The Curmudgeon.  Curmudgeons long for the days when teachers were the gods of their classrooms and students knew their place.  Strict disciplinarians, their expectations are as high as their patience for misbehavior is low: students are expected to arrive promptly, attend silently, and raise their hands only if they suspect they are suffering an aneurysm. On the one hand, the Curmudgeon's methods are antiquated and opposed to almost every "best practice" introduced over the last 50 years; on the other hand, the combination of high expectations and relentless fear can be highly motivating to some students.  Curmudgeons are easy to smoke out - at your next staff meeting, simply praise, in a loud voice, any current educational fad, and listen for the teachers who snort in derision.
    
    
11. The Zombie.  Like their namesakes, Zombies are the remnants of creatures that once lived, breathed and loved, but that have perished and are now insensate hulks. They may imitate the motions of teaching, but Zombies are dead inside, either exhausted by overwork, burned out by stress, or drained of their passion, vampire-like, by the pervasive apathy of those around them. Since they have given up on complaining (along with everything else), busy administrators sometimes fail to note their comatose state, thus dooming legions of children to soulless, mindless instruction. Truly, the only humane thing to do is to force them out into the real world, where they will either discover a new passion for hunting brains or sink quietly into their graves, buried with an engraved "Congratulations on your retirement!" faux gold clock laid upon their chests where their hearts used to reside.

Literary Characters I'd Most (and Least) Like to Invite to a Party

If you could choose any characters from literature to invite to a big shindig - say, history's coolest New Year's Eve party - who would you invite?

(Note that I'm asking about literary characters you most want to PARTY with, which is a far different list than folks you might wish to invite over for a nice dinner party.  Completely different list, and maybe the topic of my next blog post ...?)

So, with apologies to Atticus Finch (love you, but you don't strike me as a party animal), Nancy Drew/Ned Nickerson (hearing about your adventures would be great, but I'd spend the whole party worrying someone might say something off-color and shock you), and Sherlock Holmes (you really need to work on your social skills, dude) - here's a list of the literary figures/couples that would definitely top my invitation list!

1. Lord Harry Flashman/Lady Elspeth Morrison Flashman (various titles, George MacDonald Fraser).  Not only would Lord Harry have hundreds of fabulous (albeit invented) stories of derring-do to share with the guests, but Lady Flashman would provide a comely bit of eye candy, ensuring that none of my single friends - male or female - would go away disappointed.
   
   
2. Bertie Wooster/Jeeves (various titles, PG Wodehouse).  Because someone's got to spike the punch, and then someone's got to make sure everyone gets home safely
   
   
3. Jay Gatsby/Daisy Buchanan (The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald).  Because someone's got to get the rest of the guests drinking and dancing.
   
   
4. Lord Peter Whimsy/Lady Harriet Vane Whimsey/Bunter (various titles, Dorothy Sayers).  Sure to add intellectual depth to the ensemble without dragging everyone down. (Added bonus: Lord Peter's mad piano skills. Sure to keep the party going until late into the morning hours!)
   
   
5. Rhett Butler/Scarlett O'Hara Butler (Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell).  Counting on them to contribute dash, color, and that all-important whiff of scandal to the proceedings! 
   
   
6. Kimball "Kim" O'Hara (Kim, Rudyard Kipling).  He's learned, he's a bit of a rogue, and the stories he could tell about his travels and adventures ...!
   
   
7. The Wife of Bath (Canterbury Tales).  I've always pictured her as that grandmother you occasionally run across at family gatherings - the one that says outrageous things because they can.  Sure to amuse/entertain with ribald stories about life and romance. 
   
   
8. Emma Woodhouse Knightly/George Knightly (Emma, Jane Austen).  In addition to being charming and urbane company, I'm guessing Emma would make the best wingman(woman) ever!

Can't you just picture Lord Peter and Kim talking learnedly about oriental literature while Harriet and Jay cut a rug; Daisy and Elspeth sharing fashion tips while Flashman surreptitiously hits on Scarlett; Jeeves and Bunter one-upping each other with tales of the scrapes their masters keep getting into; Bertie and Harry drinking each other under the carpet; Rhett and Mr. Knightly discussing the perils of colonialism while Emma listens with delighted shock to one of the Wife of Bath's more salacious anecdotes; ? Best party EVER!

Speaking of which, here are the literary characters I'd least like to invite to a party, for the reasons stated:

1. Captain Ahab (Moby Dick, Herman Melville).  Because nothing's more boring than a guest who only talks about the one topic that obsesses them. 
   
   
2. Job (The Bible).  Can you imagine the conversation? What a downer!
   
   
3. Lady Chatterly (Lady Chatterly's Lover, DH Lawrence).  Whine, whine, whine!
   
   
4. Humbert Humbert (Lolita, Vladimir Nabakov).  How icky would it be to have to worry about him hitting on the daughters of my other guests?
   
   
5. Don Juan (legend/fable).  He'd distract the female guests and annoy the male ones.
   
   
6. Ebenezer Scrooge  (A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens). You just know he's going to double-dip those potato chips.
   
   
7. Hannibal Lector (Silence of the Lambs, Thomas Harris).  Everyone would feel oddly uncomfortable eating the meatballs.
   
   
8. Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn (various titles, Mark Twain).  Great guys, but I'm not entirely sure they wouldn't steal the silver.
   
   
9. Tarzan (or Conan) (legend/fable). Sure, they've lived adventurous lives, but is there anything more annoying than getting stuck at a party talking to the guest with the poor English skills and/or indecipherable accent?
   
   
10. The Cat in the Hat (various titles, Dr. Seuss).  I'm not cleaning up that mess!

10 Best Speeches from Movies

In talking to people about their favorite movies, I'm surprised how many people admit, upon further questioning, that it isn't really the whole movie that they love, but a particular speech embedded within the movie that they find themselves returning to again and again for entertainment, for inspiration, for enlightenment.  Which got me thinking about movie speeches that I find myself returning to over time.  I don't pretend that this is a definitive list, but I would argue that all of these speeches know how to bring the goosebumps if you're in the right mood for them. 

1. "Greed is Good" - Wall Street (1987).  "The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind." Decades from now, scholars won't need textbooks and analysis to understand the 1980-2010.  That era's narcissistic, Darwinian flaws are all laid bare in this marvelously succinct speech by Michael Douglas in his role as Gordon Gekko, an unrepentant arbitrageur, stock trader, and corporate raider. 
2. "America Isn't Easy" - The American President (1996).  "We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things, and two things only: making you afraid of it, and telling you who's to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections."  Seriously, they should consider making this speech part of the required curriculum in every civics classes in every high school in America.  It reminds us that democracy is hard, that our election process is dangerously superficial, and that we need serious people to address the serious problems that our nation faces.   [Michael Douglas again: the man knows how to pick a role!]
3. "People Will Come" - Field of Dreams (1989).  "For it is money they have, and peace they lack ..." intones James Earl Jones in this paean to the nostalgic (albeit impossibly sentimentalized) notion of a past time when dads bonded with their sons over playing catch, our love of baseball united us as a nation, and a part of us still embraced the possibility of magic.   
4. "St Crispin's Day" - Henry V (1989).  
   "This story shall the good man teach his son;
   And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
   From this day to the ending of the world,
   But we in it shall be remember'd;
   We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
   For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
   Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
   This day shall gentle his condition:
   And gentlemen in England now a-bed
   Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
   And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
   That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."
   Probably unfair to throw this one in, since Shakespeare was the screenwriter!  While Kenneth Branaugh does a brilliant job of delivering this powerful speech, it's the soaring rhetoric of the language that catches your breath and wrenches it out of your lungs.  Each time I replay this scene, I'm struck anew by the realization that people join the military today for basically the same reasons they did 1000 years ago: for honor, for glory, for brotherhood, and for the hope of immortality.
5. "Today We Celebrate Our Independence Day" - Independence Day (1996).  "We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!" Another speech designed to rally the troops, but with a more global message.  Because, face it, if we can't all agree that aliens intent on destroying humanity deserve to die, what hope is there that the nations of the world will ever find common ground?
6. "The Most Important Discovery of My Life" - Beautiful Mind (2002). "I've always believed in numbers; and the equations and logics that lead to reason. But after a lifetime of such pursuits, I ask,"What truly is logic? Who decides reason?" My quest has taken me through the physical, the metaphysical, the delusional -- and back. And I have made the most important discovery of my career, the most important discovery of my life: It is only in the mysterious equations of love that any logic or reasons can be found."  This speech is a powerful reminder that mankind's pursuit of science and understanding must be tempered by humanity and, yes, love. 
7. "I'll Be There". Grapes of Wrath (1940). "Wherever there's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beating up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready…And when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise, livin' in the houses they build, I'll be there too." We intuitively know that the people we love go on living even after they leave us, but this universal truth has never been stated with such simplicity and grace as in this scene from the immortal John Steinbeck classic.
8. "I'm the Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth" - The Pride of the Yankees (1942).  "People all say that I've had a bad break. But today -- today I consider myself the luckiest man
   on the face of the earth" intones the great Lou Gehrig in his final speech before thousands of adoring Yankees fans as he announces his forced retirement from baseball due to the diagnosis of the genetic disease we now know as ALS.  This speech is a lovely reminder that happiness isn't about getting everything you want; it's about being wise enough to appreciate everything you have. 
9. "Closing Argument" -To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).  "And so, a quiet, humble, respectable negro, who has had the unmitigated temerity to feel sorry for a white woman, has had to put his word against two white peoples. The defendant is not guilty. But somebody in this courtroom is." The irony of this great quote is, of course, that almost everyone in the courtroom is guilty - perhaps not of the crime of beating poor Mayella Ewell, but of perpetuating the grotesque racism that has led to Tom Robinson's trial (and, in the end, his death).  There are lots of magnificent courtroom speeches in the movies (indeed, this spot almost went to the great Bible speech from Inherit the Wind), but to my mind, none that can hold a candle to this lyric plea for social justice, delivered with brilliant reserve by Gregory Peck.
10. "Was it over when the Germans Bombed Pearl Harbor?" - Animal House (1978).  I had to include this speech because it is just so uniquely American.  How like us, as a country, to charge into the breach armed only with a shaky (at best) understanding of history but an unshakable sense of moral authority.

Top 50 Routines from So You Think You Can Dance

As the daughter of a dance teacher/choreographer, always seemed unfair that I didn't inherit my mother's dancing ability.  However, I did inherit her love of dance, and So You Think You Can Dance is the first show in ages that I actually rush home to watch.  Admit my reason for posting this list is entirely selfish - looking forward to consolidating links to all my favorites in one place, so that I can watch these amazing routines as often as I like!

LATIN DANCE FAVORITES

1. Benji and Heidi, Mambo, "Black Mambo." You don't need to watch those ballroom dancing competitions on Saturday afternoon television - just watch these two nationally-ranked performers show you how the mambo is done!  (Gentlemen, take note: no matter how geeky you look, learn to dance like Benji and you'll have to shake the girls off with a stick!)
2. Danny and Lacey, Samba, "Hip Hip, Chin Chin." Steamy, sensuous, sultry, and sexy, sexy, sexy!  No wonder those Latin countries have the reputation they do!  To be fair, have to split the credit for this one three ways: the choreography is smoking, the song is tight, and the performers don't just land it - they nail it.
3. Lindsay and Cole, Paso Doble, "Unstoppable." The paso doble is hard to pull off - unless the male dancer manages to successfully channel the inner ferocity of the dance, the formulaic moves can come off as painfully awkward rather than masculine.  And then, finally, in the show's ninth seasons, two gifted dancers show how it's meant to be done.  Adrenalin-inducing!
4. Lauren and Pasha, ChaCha, "Telephone."  This isn't even close to the best cha cha ever performed on the show - in fact, most of the moves are pretty basic, but between the way Lauren hurls that fringe around and whatever that is that Pasha's doing with his hips, this performance is smoking hot!

BALLROOM DANCE FAVORITES

1. Jakob and Molle, Waltz, "Ordinary Day." Nothing ordinary about this exquisite performance.  Usually when I think of the waltz, my imagination conjures visions of stuffy people in gilded ballrooms.  But this routine made me realize what the waltz can be at its best: energy, joy, and experiencing - if only for the length of a dance - what it must feel like to fly. Add a touch of nostalgia (the costumes, the scenery, the sweetly innocent "boy meets girl" storyline) and you get one of my favorite SYTYCD routines ever.
2. Robert and Ashly, Quick Step, "The Man With the Hex." Quickstep has come to be known as the "dance of death" on the show because it's incredibly hard to bring the level of perfect precision required to make choreography that's incredibly effortful look effortless.  This is as close as any two performers have come to making it work. Just check out the long run they pull off during the bridge ...!

CONTEMPORARY DANCE FAVORITES

1. Kayla and Kupono, Contemporary, "Gravity." This dark but utterly riveting routine personifies the horror of addiction: both the intoxicating grace with which it tempts the addict, and the brutality with which it imprisons them.  The choreography stands alone but - serendipitously - it's performed here by two dancers who can act, and the result is a performance so haunting that you may have trouble shaking it off afterwards. 
2. Brandon and Janette, Jazz, "Ruby Blue." Fun, fun, fun!  Part silent film, part Raiders of the Lost Ark, this routine made me laugh aloud even as the intricate, tongue-in-cheek choreography left me dazzled - performed brilliantly, by the way, by two of the best dancers ever to appear on the show. 
3. Twitch and Katee, Contemporary, "Mercy." Not the most challenging or demanding routine, but definitely one of the most entertaining.  The choreographer seems to be channeling Amy Winehouse by way of the Alvin Alley Dance Company.  Another example of how the right story + the right choreography + the right music + the right dancers = magic.
4. Adichike and Comfort, Hip Hop, "Falling." The choreographer of this routine has perfectly captured the raw pain of breaking up with a partner who is bad for you. Alicia Keyes should consider making this the official video for her song.
5. Ensemble, Contemporary, "Wave."  Setting aside that pretty much everything Travis Wall does is outstanding, this one rises above the others for its eerie beauty and wave-like quality of movement. Who knew a bunch of men could move like this?
6. Kent and Lauren, Contemporary, "Collide." So it helps that this amazingly sweet story of young love is performed by two of SYTYCD's most lovable young dancers, Kent and Lauren, but after you see the way these two gifted dancers pull off this deceptively intricate choreography - including a section in the middle where, I swear, they sustain flawless synchrony for 12 entire bars - you'll agree that only they could have pulled this off.
7. Robert and Alison, Contemporary, "Fix You." On one level, this is a gorgeous contemporary dance performed with near Siamese-twin-like synchronicity by two gifted dancers. On a deeper level, however, it's an incredibly affecting story about supporting someone you love through their darkest hours. Go ahead and appreciate both levels equally; god knows they're both equally worthy.

JAZZ/MODERN DANCE FAVORITES

1. Nick and Melody, Jazz/Broadway, "All That Jazz." This steamy routine is liquid awesome by way of Bob Fosse, poured over a glass full of Broadway. Bartender - bring me another one!
2. Neil and Sabra, Jazz, "Sweet Dreams." Who choreographs a dance about a business negotiation?  After this you may be wondering, why hasn't anyone choreographed a dance about a business negotiation before?  Be prepared to be dazzled by storytelling, the athleticism, the precision, and this one breathtaking moment when Neil vaults over Sabra and the table.   (Forget dance - someone sign that boy up for the U.S. Olympics gymnastic team!)
3. Neil and Lauren, Jazz, "Night of the Dancing Flame."  Both dancers are excellent, but Neil's performance as the villain in this "good vs. evil" parody is over-the-top perfection: imagine Dick Dasterdly as interpreted by Bob Fosse.  

BROADWAY FAVORITES

1. Kent and Neil, Broadway, "Damn Yankees."  Don't know if this will make anyone else's "Top 15" list, but for me this energetic, acrobatic routine represents pure Broadway magic with a heaping plate of "Gee Whiz!" on the side.
2. Billy and Katee, Broadway, "McCaverty, the Mystery Cat." I'm not sure choreographers always knew what to do with Billy's style of dance, characterized by a range of movement seemingly unhindered by bones, but whoever figured out he'd make a great cat was channeling genius. Watch this and ask me afterwards if you wouldn't pay $200 a ticket to see this guy in Cats.
3. Gaby & Lex, Tap, "More." This tap-a-licious routine whisks you back to a more carefree era, a time when movies were in black & white, men were dashing, women were fresh-faced, people dressed for dinner, and romance was always just a tap dance away. 

HIP HOP FAVORITES

1. Twitch and Alex, hip hop, "Get Outta Your Mind." The routine features a hip hop-dancing therapist trying to help a classically trained ballet dancer patient get his freak on.  Which is the stuff of great drama - but when you add the fact that Twitch really is a hip hop God, and Alex really is a classically trained ballet dancer, you get magic.
2. Chelsea and Mark, Hip Hop, "Bleeding Love." This was the first time a hip hop routine made me cry. Dare you not to be moved by this simple but exquisite piece of choreography depicting a wife trying desperately to compete for the attention of her workaholic husband. 
3. Comfort, Twitch, Cyrus, Christopher Wade, Dub Step, "Holy Ghost." I'm in awe of this new generation of dancers and the control they have over their bodies, which styles like "animation" and "dub step" highlight.  The incredibly intricate moves of this dub step still make my jaw drop.

ENSEMBLE HITS

1. Ensemble, Contemporary, "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic." Seriously, if anyone ever turns Alice in Wonderland into a dance operetta, it's going to look just like this: equal parts beautiful, unsettling, frenetic, and magical. By far my favorite Mia Michaels choreography.
2. Ensemble, Jazz, "Fame." Every time I watch this number by choreographer Wade Robson I'm reminded of a great line from the musical Amadeus, in which Mozart celebrates opera for its ability to transform 20 voices speaking all at once from cacophony to beauty. In this case it's 20 dancers all going about their own business, except that Wade Robson turns all that cacophony into something gorgeous.
3. Ensemble, Jazz, "All That Jazz." So I've already listed an All That Jazz cover on this list, which makes me wonder if I just have a thing for Bob Fosse.  Maybe, but there's also Mark, the lead dancer in this, who sizzles with popping electricity from the moment the dance begins, animating the whole cast.
4. Ensemble, Broadway, "Puttin' on the Ritz." Let's call this what it is: a whopping dose of infectious energy topped by a swirl of good clean fun with a cherry on top. Probably helps that it's the first ensemble dance of the season - the dancers are visibly busting with excitement and pride at having made it on the show and their visible joy is contagious.
5. Ensemble, Contemporary, "Ramalama Bang Bang."  This show definitely explores the extremes of dance. But how can you not love this twisted, brilliant routine choreographed to a song that sounds like the music zombies would make if they could form their own band?  (FYI, the male dancer who's clearly better than all the others is the routine's choreographer, Wade Robson.)
6. Ensemble, Contemporary, "Bang Bang."  This country-themed ensemble number mixes tongue-in-cheek stereotype, energy, athleticism, and a whole lot of neon to produce a number that radiates sheer, unapologetic fun.
7. Ensemble, Contemporary/hip hop, "Velocity." If The Matrix were a musical, it would look like this!  This one's just for the men, who bring the house down with a routine that combines big choreography, raw athleticism, and a totally awesome Jason Bourne vibe. 

FREAKS & GEEKS! A category for all the one-offs and indescribables!

1. Dominic and Robert, Hip Hop, "Scars." Does it get creepier than zombies?  One word for you: clowns.  The frenetic choreography of this piece perfectly complements the disturbing score, creating a dance that you'll remember ... in your nightmares!
2. Courtney and Mark, Jazz, "The Garden." And now for something completely different ...!  This is so strange, which I'm sure is what makes it so fascinating. Sexual energy literally explodes from the dancers with each lunge, kick and pounce.  Fierce!
3. Jaimie and Hok, Jazz, "The Chairman's Waltz." For all they talk about the importance of different styles of dance, SYTYCD has a blind spot with respect to ballet.  Which is a shame, because this luminous performance shows that ballet can be about a lot more than tutus and toe shoes.
4. Brandon and Janette, Disco "Loving is Really My Game." I know ... DISCO. But you know how one tends to forget the painful memories and remember the idealized ones? Here's your chance to forever bury any painful recollections you may cling to of "bump" choreography and white leisure suits and replace them with what all of us who actually lived through the 1970s like to believe disco was really about - energy, celebration, dazzle, spectacle, and pure, unrestrained joy.
5. Tiffany and Eliana, Pole Dance, "When You're Good to Mama."  This number will make you wonder why burlesque ever died.