Every year, it gets to the beginning of December and I realize, with horror, that I have over half of my vacation left that I did not take during the year. Our company does not allow us to roll vacation over into the next year and if you don't take the time off, you will lose it all together. I usually have the equivalent of a couple of weeks that need to be burned up and in most years, I take part of the month of December off to attend to the home renovation projects that I put off all year.

My brother and his wife plan their vacations a year in advance. MeiMei is the ultimate bargain shopper. She does extensive research on finding the best deals, booking all the particulars in fine detail, well in advance. I rather envy this dedication to crafting the perfect holiday, but not as much as the notion that you know, for certain, that on a particular day, you will be taking a vacation. Fact: You will be on a beach enjoying a MaiTai on a this day. Why, that gives you something to look forward to. The notion is mind boggling.

Fang is really not one for vacations. I think the whole ordeal of the airport and schlepping luggage is more stressful for him than relaxing. I believe he'd rather spend his vacation time just staying home and relaxing. Not me. I enjoy vacations, but often I am left to my own devices--and with his blessing. Sometimes I tag along with Marv and MeiMei. Sometimes I do my own thing. Or sometimes, I just take the time to repaint my home. There's therapy in that, I'm told, though after many years of doing the same thing every December, it's appeal is starting to wane.

It seems I may actually have to plan a real vacation. In advance. So I did.

Something I've always wanted to do was to take a tour across the South with a good friend. I've nudged MaryCatherineFullofGrace to abandon her family responsibilities and take off for a week to do a Thelma & Louise tour with me. And for 2007, she's agreed to it. I was pleased she was willing to go and that her husband was agreeable to her leaving her adorable young son to run around with me. It's been a dream of sorts, to get a convertible and drive across the states I've yearned to see more of. Eat at some waffle houses. See a couple antebellum plantations. Lay on the beach on the Gulf. Go to some shitkicking blues bars and kick up our heels. And MaryCatherineFullofGrace is pragmatic enough not to let me get into too much trouble. So I've planned a real vacation--a four state crawl at the height of summer with my best friend.

But what to do with the remaining 12 days left in 2006? The remodeling project for the bathrooms needs to be contracted; the replacement of the 100 year old parquet floor in the kitchen really should be done; the mounting of a flat screen TV and the sound system in the living room is long overdue. But truth be told, I'd rather get on a plane and go to Greece. A week on the black sand beaches in Santorini would do me a world of good.

I'll let you know where I end up.