A Christmas Memory

REF: studio classroom English Magazine

A Christmas Memory
I’ll be home for Christmas-maybe!

One Christmas, a special friend from overseas was planning to celebrate the holidays with my family. There was just one problem: We lived in Maryland, but her flight was arriving in Florida. That’s a 15-hour drive.

I talked my brother into driving to Florida with me to pick her up. Skip loved to drive. We could take my van! Although it was old, it was fun to drive and didn’t use much gas.

I decorated the van windows with colorful little lights. The van became the “spirit of Christmas” on wheels. Then we packed all the important things: TV set, radio, pillows, snacks and plenty of soda. I invited another friend to come along too. This trip was going to be fun! Not everyone thought so, however. “Your van will never make it,” some warned, but we didn’t listen. We were on a mission: Florida here we come!

Skip drove all night, and by morning we were in Florida, the Sunshine State. Yahoo! We stopped at the Welcome Center for free orange juice. But when we hopped back in the van, the engine refused to start.