by Amy Barnett

Created on: August 05, 2008

A Florida White Christmas

Beth's roommate's excited voice forces her out of a deep sleep, "Beth, wake up. Wake up! You're not going to believe this."
"Believe what?" Annoyed, she glances at the clock. 7 am! Too early for a recent college grad to be awake.
"It snowed last night and the ground is covered in white."
"What? Snowed? It doesn't snow in Florida!" Coming to her senses, she jumps up and peers out. Sure enough, the ground is covered in a delicate layer of snow.

Everyone knows that it does not snow in Florida. Or does it?
Three days before Christmas in 1989, Beth graduated from college in North Florida. Her sister's family joined Beth and her parents at graduation and for dinner afterward. The unusual nip in the air added excitement to their festivities. Snow flurries had been forecast as "possible" for the next few days, but they would be very light, because ..."It doesn't snow in Florida!"
After dinner they laughingly kissed one another goodbye and the family headed out for the forty-five minute drive home. Beth would be joining them on Christmas Eve since she wanted to finish her Christmas shopping before going home.
Driving in the rain the next evening after shopping, she saw a startling sight: icicles on the headlights of passing cars. Amazing! Floridians rarely see authentic icicles and certainly not in December. In Florida, a cool Christmas is extremely nice, and a cold Christmas is, for native Floridians who can recall many Christmas days with temperatures in the 80's, akin to the White Christmases of their northerly neighbors.
Beth headed to bed that night hopeful and happy about the holidays and her future. She was finally finished with school, she was ready for Christmas, and to top everything off, it was COLD.
Beth peered out her window that Christmas Eve morning amazed at the sight before her. In her 22 years of life, it had snowed only once in Florida that she could remember. Then the snow clung only to cars, and lingered just a few hours. This time, though, would be different. In awe of all the white around her, she packed her car and headed for her sister's house on the outskirts of a nearby small town. It was to be quite a journey.
All around Beth people were driving as normal. Easing into the roadway, she thought, "You'd imagine that this snow would keep people off the roads." No way. It was Christmas Eve! People had families to get to and last minute Christmas shopping to do. However, pressing her brake peddle at the first stoplight,

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