The Overbooked Holiday Express
A traveler trying to get home for the holidays boarded a completely packed passenger train on December 23rd, only to find that every seat, hallway, and luggage rack was occupied by commuters carrying massive wrapped boxes. Struggling through the aisle with two heavy suitcases, he finally found a small empty corner near the dining car, where a man was sitting on an overturned cooler eating a sandwich. The traveler slouched against the wall, wiped his brow, and said, "I've been trying to find a place to sit down for four towns!" The man on the cooler took a bite of his sandwich, looked at the crowd squeezed into the hallway, and said, "Son, this isn't a train ride anymore—this is a localized human packaging experiment."
The Airport Lost Luggage Counter
A woman arrived at her holiday vacation destination in Florida on Christmas Eve, only to discover that the airline had sent all three of her suitcases to Anchorage, Alaska. Furious, she marched up to the lost luggage counter and demanded to know how her tropical vacation wardrobe ended up near the North Pole. The customer service agent checked his computer terminal, typed for a few seconds, and said smoothly, "Well, ma'am, the good news is that your winter coats and ski boots are getting plenty of use, but the bad news is you're going to be attending Christmas dinner in that tracksuit you've been wearing for eighteen hours."
The Highway Blizzard Convoy
A family driving across three states to reach their grandparents' house for Christmas dinner got caught in a blinding whiteout blizzard on a remote mountain highway. The father crept along at ten miles an hour, following the faint red taillights of the semi-truck directly in front of him for over two hours. Suddenly, the semi-truck came to a complete stop, and the driver got out, walked back to the family's car, and knocked on the window. The father rolled down his window and asked, "Are we stuck in a snowdrift?" The truck driver wiped the frost from his beard and replied, "No, sir, but I'm parked in my own garage, and I'd really like to close the door now."