I Read John Grisham’s ‘Skipping Christmas’.
Christmas is a time when we tend to relive a lot of the same old traditions time and again, often giving us back the same feelings about the holiday that we felt when we were kids. There’s something deeply warming about watching the same cartoons over and again, hearing the same songs on loop. In our house, we even watch YouTube videos of the old Christmas commercials we used to see before we had the option to stream everything under the sun.
One of the newest additions to my annual viewing bouquet is Christmas With the Kranks, a[nother] Tim Allen comedy where he stars alongside Jamie Lee Curtis as a man whose daughter leaves for a year with the Peace Corps and has the perfect set up to sidestep all of the Christmas festivities and take a cruise with his wife instead, saving money in the process. We watch it typically twice a year (if not more) and quote it pretty frequently, so it’s really become part of our family vocabulary. This year was the first time that I actually read the book.
What the book does over the movie is ramp up a lot more of the stress and focus way more on the evils of the materialism and the way that we all behave towards each other at a time when the focus should be placed way more on togetherness, well-being and gratitude. The movie is a comedy, so while many of those principles are in place, we’re still found reaching for catchy lines and an easy and light laugh.
Grisham’s meticulous breakdown of upper-middle class America’s obsession with Things during the holidays is the key component of this book. The Christmas Cards that cannot be missed, and that ends up being a competition among families. The lights and decorations that end up being great rivalries between neighbors. The trees which pits households head to head against one another. He does an excellent job showing us just how strange it is that our joys and merriment are no longer being constructed for our happiness and for our contribution to the season, but instead has become a game of one-upmanship that causes us to put down those who we love. The book doesn’t come loaded with any vitriol, but a careful eye is placed on what is said about a very special time of the year and just how much is lost in the mix as we simply try to enjoy it.
As with any Christmas story, things come together in the end with a heart warming gesture, beautiful sentiments and the overall glow of family, friendship and togetherness. And I think the book does a better job at finding a sublime culmination of it all than the movie does which is a little too knee-deep in hijinx to really slow down enough to allow us the feeling (though Christmas With the Kranks’ message is just as clear). I think we’re given the opportunity to recognize The Meaning a bit more when we’re reading it all come together, and as we get a chance to see what kinds of sacrifices are possible when push comes to shove.
Overall, I would say I recommend this book, although I would say if it’s all the same, watch the movie!! It’s a nice little story that can be read in a couple of slow afternoons, maybe even during the days off that some of us get to enjoy during the final parts of the year.
