Dreaming of a Green Vacation

Back around Thanksgiving, my unemployed self decided in the truest of holiday spirits that, this Christmas, my loved ones wouldn't want any ole mass produced store bought gifts. Oh no, my nearest and dearests would much prefer gifts from the heart. Something homemade and painstakingly created with pure love. (Plus, I'm really poor. See aforementioned unemployment status.) I knew they would prefer a gift that warms both the body and the soul. THIS, I thought, THIS would be the year that the Christmas Spirit is returned to its original roots: the joy of giving, the graciousness of receiving, the celebration of joy and family and traditions that bind the generations both old and new. And stuff.

Fast forward three and a half weeks to today, to find a wild-eyed Me, brandishing knitting needles, fifteen balls of yarn and six partially finished Christmas presents. The "spirit" coursing through my veins today is one that has heart palpitations and swears profusely, "What the $%*@ was I thinking???"

So, with that in mind, I am knitting furiously and day-dreaming of a warm tropical sunny place to go after Christmas, you know, once the wounds from my fingers having fallen off have adequately healed. November 2007's Travel & Leisure has an article on their top 15 "eco-hotel" choices. If not for the article title however, you'd never know you were looking at "eco-hotels". These hotels are not granola-ey in the least, and some are downright luxurious, not to mention jaw-droppingly beautiful. (check out the Fushi Resort's pool, in the Maldives). Ranging from Grenada to South Africa, there's an eco-hotel wherever you want to go. Myself, I'm leaning towards Morgan's Rock Hacienda in Nicaragua.