You could just take a level-mile earning Skyteam flight, and extend the lifetime of your miles well into 2016.

Wrong question. Buy now, then come back and tell us. For someone who wants to redeem an award (and for which the available seats are probably being snapped up as we speak) and whose entire balance faces obliteration in under two weeks, you're being remarkably sanguine about the whole thing. Waiting until the very last possible minute, and then having your miles expire while the transaction takes longer than anticipated/advised, is not how you want to handle this.