John Grisham may be best known for his legal thrillers, the most famous of which—The Firm, A Time to Kill, and The Pelican Brief—were made into 1990s blockbuster movies. Yet, he's also been known to deviate from form every now and then and write something completely different. Skipping Christmas is one such book. It's a 2001 novella about a family who decides to opt out of the season's annual traditions and instead get away for the holiday. But that plan backfires on them spectacularly, and hijinks ensue. It was adapted into a 2004 film called Christmas with the Kranks, starring Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis, which gained the story an even wider audience. If you're familiar with the film but don’t know much about its literary inspiration, read on to learn about the similarities and differences between the book and movie.
Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Skipping Christmas and its film adaptation, Christmas with the Kranks.
What is Skipping Christmas about?
Skipping Christmas follows Luther and Nora Krank, a middle-aged married couple who are initially quite sad to say goodbye to their only daughter, Blair, who is flying out the weekend after Thanksgiving for a stint in the Peace Corps. She'll be stationed in Peru for the next year, which means she won't be coming back home in time for Christmas. Her parents are downtrodden about saying goodbye to Blair, so on the way home from dropping her off at the airport, Nora insists they stop at a fancy grocery store to pick up ingredients for a dessert she plans to make for a social event. Luther grudgingly goes into the store for her, gets soaked in the cold rain in the process, and is unable to locate the ingredients.
He's so upset by the ordeal that when he and Nora get home, he begins to crunch the numbers. He realizes that each year, he and Nora spend a total of $6,100 on Christmas celebrations, from gifts to party hosting to decorations. He decides that he'd rather spend that money on a tropical cruise getaway, especially since Blair won't be coming home for the festivities. He surprises Nora with a 10-day Caribbean cruise that leaves on Christmas Eve. At first, she's reluctant, arguing that they still need to make the charitable donations they always do; Luther only protests a little before compromising. Then, it’s all settled, and their vacation is on. The couple is excited for their cruise, and completely oblivious to all of the unforeseen complications that one decision will cause.
Luther and Nora quickly adjust to the idea of skipping Christmas, but they are surprised when their neighbor, Vic Frohmeyer, is upset at them for not decorating their house as usual. Each year, the neighborhood holds a "best decorated block" contest, and their immediate neighbors are frustrated that the Kranks’ lack of participation might cost everyone on Hemlock Street a shot at victory. Vic tries to convince them to change their minds by organizing neighborhood protests, sending carolers to their yard, and calling constantly to ask them to change their minds. This only provokes Luther to stubbornly dig in his heels, and a (not-so) merry war breaks out between them.
But this is only the beginning of the consequences and hurt feelings stemming from the Kranks' Christmas boycott. The Boy Scouts are upset when the Kranks don't buy a Christmas tree; the local stationery is sad to lose out on their large Christmas card order; and the police and fire departments are disappointed that the Kranks won't be supporting their annual Christmas fundraisers. The Kranks hold firm, but things get so bad that Vic asks Luther's rival Walt Scheel to do a story on the Kranks' refusal to decorate their house or get into the holiday spirit.
Luther and Nora can't wait for Christmas Eve, when they can escape and enjoy their vacation. But on that very morning, they get a phone call from Blair. She tells them she's in Miami, and she's flying home to surprise them for Christmas. What's more, her new Peruvian fiancé, Enrique, is with her, and she's excited to show him how they celebrate Christmas. She asks Nora if they're still holding their annual Christmas Eve party, and Nora panics and says yes. Frantic, Nora and Luther only have hours to pull off a Christmas miracle. With all the Christmas trees sold out, Luther calls a neighbor and arranges to borrow his tree as he's headed out of town for the holidays. He enlists Vic's son Spike to help him, but nearly gets arrested when his neighbors think he's stealing the tree. Nora frantically tries to decorate the house and buy the food needed for the party, but grocery store shelves are empty, and it's not looking good. She orders Luther to put the Frosty the Snowman decoration on the roof, and Luther tries…but ends up slipping from the roof and hanging upside down from his ankles, which are caught up in the lights.
Walt Scheel rescues Luther, and that's when all the neighbors learn of the Kranks' change of heart. They quickly come together to make sure that the Kranks pull off the most memorable Christmas celebration ever—even going so far as to send the police to the airport to pick up Blair and Enrique, and stall them to give Luther and Nora more time. When Luther sees how his neighbors and friends pitch in to help them get their celebration ready, he decides to not skip Christmas after all. In an act of holiday generosity, he gives their cruise tickets to Walt, whose wife Bev's cancer has just returned, so they can have a wonderful vacation together.
What are the major differences between Skipping Christmas and Christmas with the Kranks?
The movie is a fairly faithful adaptation of the book. Starring Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Dan Akroyd, Christmas with the Kranks attempts to portray the story in a slightly more comedic light than Grisham's novella. Because it's a film, Luther's internal thoughts and feelings aren't as accessible, so the audience might not understand his motivations for skipping Christmas as well as they do in the book. Other differences include the film’s additional instances of neighbors trying to convince Nora to cave and decorate for the holidays, the introduction of the Scheels’ pet cat, and a scene documenting an attempted robbery gone awry.
Aside from those instances, the plot unfolds very similarly to the book. Perhaps the biggest change is that at the end of the film, Luther is still not moved by his neighbors' help and support after Blair comes home—he still wants to take off for their cruise, unwilling to give up the tickets and the investment. But Nora refuses, and berates Luther for having such a cold heart. Later, Luther goes across the street to the Scheels' house and gives them the tickets, agreeing to watch their cat while they're gone. He finally admits to Nora that skipping Christmas was a bad idea, and she reassures him that maybe they could try it again next year.
Although the core stories are the same, the book offers a more heartwarming version of the plot while the movie has a more humorous edge. But even if you're a fan of the funny movie, listening to Skipping Christmas might just get you thinking about the true meaning of the holidays: cherishing the people in our lives.
