We’ve had it with the holiday season. Don’t get me wrong. We love the food, friends, and family, but have had enough of the gifts and expectations. Next year, we’re heading for sun and surf.

Neither of us ever seem to want anything for Christmas, and our daughter doesn’t seem to appreciate what she gets. It’s time for something different. I guess the only thing my wife and I do want is some time to relax and reflect. Being away from home would be good for all of us.

We’ve made a pact to dump the lights and gifts for each other in exchange for some time away next year. I’m already looking forward to the 2007 holiday season.

As Jack Black said in the movie Nacho Libre, “It sucks to be me right now.” I’m feeling that way on my forty-third birthday but at least I’m not lying face down in the snow dead. It saddens me that searchers found James Kim dead today, but I was not surprised.

Having driven those roads myself (in summer), I know how bad the roads are and how remote the area is. Maybe it’s just me, but whenever I take my family on a road trip for a long weekend, we pack enough food for a week. But we are into natural, healthy foods—grub we are unlikely to find on the road.

I’ll never know all the events and decisions that led to James Kim’s death but it is unfortunate. The one issue I wonder about is whether he really intended to come back to the car at a specified time or if he said that so his wife would let him go. I only wonder because that is a ploy I would likely use myself, and once I left I’d be determined to return only when I found help.