The whole family objected strongly when I said I was going to Europe over the Christmas holidays with a college friend of mine. Mother said that ____62____ there was going to be a family reunion, I  really ____63____ to stay at home. Although I always ____64____ these occasions, nobody could persuade me to change my mind.

      A week before Christmas, my friend and I flew to Madrid and then ____65____ by train through Spain, France and Germany . On Christmas Eve we arrived in a small town in southern Germany and were greatly surprised to find so much activity in town. The streets were ____66____ with people, and the shops were full of all kinds of interesting things. We walked ____67____ for hours and then just before midnight we went to listen to Christmas songs sung by children around the brightly ____68____ tree in the main square. We went back to our hotel late that night, looking forward to the next day when we ____69____ to have Christmas ____70____ at the best restaurant in town.

      However, in the morning ____71____ people were to be seen in the streets. To make the matter ____72____ , every shop was ____73____ up tight, even the restaurants. We searched uselessly for hours and ____74____ had to return to our hotel feeling unhappy and lonely. Our Christmas meal was a bag of fruit ____75____ my friend had ____76____ to buy the day before. Our thoughts sadly turned to home. At that moment, our families must have been wishing us a "Merry Christmas" !