Skipping Christmas

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2001

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-12

Chapters 13-20

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 1-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary

Luther and Nora Krank are at the airport on the Sunday after Thanksgiving with their 23-year-old daughter, Blair. Blair, who has joined the Peace Corps, is leaving for Peru, where she will spend two years teaching young children to read. Nora clings to her daughter and asks repeatedly if Blair is sure she wants to go. Luther is in a foul mood. He is sad that Blair is going so far away, but he keeps assuring Nora that Blair will be fine. Luther is more preoccupied by the crowds jamming the airport. He thinks it is ridiculous, all these people traveling on the same day, making themselves and each other miserable. He can’t believe there is already a Santa Claus collecting donations.

After Blair boards the plane, they return to the car. On the way home, Nora asks Luther to stop at Chip’s, a small, overpriced grocery near their home. She wants Luther to go in and get her a few things. He argues, but they both know he will do as she wants. He goes out in the rain. Christmas decorations are already up, and Christmas music is playing. The store is packed with people, chaotic, and disorganized. Luther fails to find the ingredients Nora wants, and by the time he gets back to the car, he is dreaming of finding a way to avoid Christmas altogether.

Chapter 2 Summary

That night after Nora falls asleep, Luther, an accountant, assembles all the receipts from the previous Christmas, determining that they spent over $6,000. The list of expenses includes food he doesn’t like, gifts nobody used, fruitcakes and calendars, lights, flowers, decorations, a pretentious party, and overpriced Christmas cards. He hesitates over the 10 percent of that money that went to charitable contributions but finally includes them in the total. In the morning, after bringing Nora her ritual coffee in her favorite mug, he goes to a travel agency and collects a selection of brochures for exotic cruises.

Over dinner, Nora remarks sadly that Christmas won’t be the same without Blair, and she’d like to just forget about it. Luther then introduces his cruise scheme. He shows her the expenses from the previous year and reminds her of all the stress, then produces the travel brochures: a 10-day luxury cruise through the Bahamas on the Island Princess. Nora is dubious until he points out that the cruise is only $3,000, so they would actually save money. The catch is that they have to skip Christmas entirely—the tree, the party, the decorations, the charitable contributions. Nora holds out for the charity contributions, and Luther gives in on that point.

Chapter 3 Summary

Nora is the first to be tested. The owner of the local printer calls to remind her to order their annual overpriced, personalized Christmas cards. Nora declines. Sending cards is an onerous chore, and she doubts anyone will notice if they don’t get a card from the Kranks.

Luther distributes a memo around the office explaining that he won’t be participating in any Christmas rituals at work. He won’t be at the office party and won’t give or receive gifts; he also won’t snap, “Bah, humbug” at anyone who says Merry Christmas.

The Christmas tree is their first big test, and Luther feels that if they give way on the tree, things will snowball from there. The Boy Scouts arrive in the neighborhood with a truck full of trees and bring one to the Kranks’ door. To the shock and dismay of the Scouts, Luther declines the tree. He offers to give double to the Boy Scouts’ summer camporee, but they are only a little appeased. Word sweeps the neighborhood that the Kranks are not putting up a tree.

Luther reflects that there will no doubt be more such encounters, but that is one of things he despises about the holiday: Everyone has their hand out for a tip or a donation to something or other. He goes for a stroll around the neighborhood, feeling smug that he has avoided the dreaded ritual of the tree-trimming. He watches some of his neighbors squabble over where to hang ornaments. Other families—those with children like the Trogdons and the Frohmeyers—hang the decorations carelessly, enjoying the process. Luther feels a stab of nostalgia for the days when Blair was young. Luther knows that the neighbors will gossip about how awful those trees look. Neither the Frohmeyers nor the Trogdons will care. They care more about their children than the opinions of their neighbors.

Chapter 4 Summary

Nora is having lunch with members of a committee to raise funds for the local art museum. While there, Nora receives another call from the printer reminding her that she hasn’t bought the invitations for the Kranks’ annual Christmas Eve party. Nora tells him there will be no party. Afterward, her friends grill her, and Nora admits that she and Luther are taking a cruise. Her friends ask what they are expected to do on Christmas Eve and Nora assures them they will manage. When they learn that Luther and Nora aren’t leaving for their cruise until Christmas Day, they ask why they don’t have the party anyway, and Nora replies that they are skipping Christmas entirely. Some of the women are shocked by the idea. Others are envious.

Vic Frohmeyer is the informal leader of the Hemlock Street community and has the ear of influential people like the mayor and the police chief. He has heard rumors about the Kranks’ skipping Christmas, and he is determined not to let that happen. Years earlier, Vic conceived a community-wide decorating scheme. He arranged for everyone to buy an eight-foot inflatable Frosty the Snowman to mount on their roofs. Other streets in the neighborhood then adopted their own Christmas mascots—Rudolphs, silver bells, and so on. Vic convinced the parks department to hand out awards for neighborhood Christmas spirit. Having heard about the Kranks’ plans, he sends around a memo dictating that the following day would be ideal for mounting the Frostys. Luther hates the ordeal of putting Frosty on the roof. It was fun the first few years; now it is just another meaningless chore. He announces to Nora that not even Vic Frohmeyer can bully him into doing it.

Chapter 5 Summary

The next day, the neighborhood dives into the Frosty project. Neighbors help each other; women bake brownies and cookies for the men doing the work. By the time Luther returns home from work, there are only two houses without a Frosty—his and that of his arch-nemesis, Walt Scheel, across the street. The Scheels are competitive and like to give the impression that they have more money than anyone else on the street. Walt especially resents Luther because Walt suspects that Luther’s income is equal to his own. However, Walt recently had his salary reduced, and now Walt’s wife, Beverly, has cancer. Last year, the Scheels didn’t decorate. At first, Luther is happy to see that there is no Frosty on the Scheels’ roof, but soon, the neighborhood gathers to mount the Scheels’ Frosty for them.

After dark, Luther goes for a walk around the neighborhood. He briefly feels nostalgic for the joys of Christmas and guilty for not putting up his snowman. Then he remembers all the things he hates about the holiday. Spike Frohmeyer passes on his bike and stops. Spike is as busy and officious as his father. Spike asks if Luther is going to put up his Frosty this year, and Luther replies that he isn’t; he and Nora are leaving town for Christmas. Spike remarks that he didn’t know people could do that, but that since the Kranks aren’t leaving until Christmas day, they could still put up their Frosty so Hemlock Street could still win the decorating award. Luther tells him winning is overrated.

Next on his route, Luther meets Vic Frohmeyer. Vic asks if Luther is really skipping Christmas; it just doesn’t seem right to him. Luther replies that it’s not up to Vic to decide that.

Chapters 1-5 Analysis

The first paragraph introduces the theme of Life’s Changes and Transitions. 23-year-old Blair is described as sheltered, but despite her sheltered upbringing, she is reaching for adulthood, leaving home and her beloved parents to establish her own identity.

The scene also illustrates Nora’s identification with and attachment to her daughter. Nora physically clings to her, asking over and over whether Blair really wants to leave. Luther is more willing to let his daughter become an adult. Blair’s departure is the catalyst that forces her parents to re-evaluate their relationship.

Luther is established as a cross between Ebenezer Scrooge and Dr. Seuss’s Grinch (hence his last name, “Krank”). He despises everything to do with Christmas—the crowds, the noise, the conspicuous consumption. By the end of Chapter 1, Luther, like Dr. Seuss’s Grinch, has resolved to stop Christmas from coming—but, crucially, unlike the Grinch, he doesn’t impose this resolution on other people.

Luther is an anti-hero in that he has a number of negative traits, like resentment, irritability, and a tendency to misanthropy. Those traits make Luther his own antagonist. His neighbors are a force of opposition, but Luther causes his own problems. John Grisham, however, makes a point in this first part of the story that Luther isn’t a villain. Although something of a misanthropist, he generally has good relationships with his neighbors—at least before he decides to skip Christmas—and gives to charity. He has difficulty expressing himself verbally, but he makes small gestures of love toward his wife like going into the store in the rain or bringing her a ritual cup of coffee every morning. His notion to go on a cruise is a bid to escape the chaos of Christmas, but it is also a grand romantic gesture to Nora.

Vic Frohmeyer introduces the theme of Community Versus Individuality when he decides that Hemlock won’t let Luther escape his obligation to the neighborhood as Vic sees it. He spearheads the campaign to pressure Luther to participate, but by the end of the story, he will rescue Luther from the police by vouching for him, and he will spearhead the campaign to rescue Luther from his own folly.

Nora’s encounter with the women from the charity committee illustrates the theme of Meaningful Connections and Materialism. Nora experiences social pressure to conform to the material excess of the holiday. Her friends feel entitled to be entertained by the Kranks’ annual party, which has become a status symbol to them rather than a gathering of friends. It has lost its meaning and become an expression of materialism. Both Luther and Nora encounter people who can’t understand how one can just “skip” Christmas, which is one of Luther’s objections to the holiday. He recognizes that when you can’t say no, then “yes” has no meaning. By saying no this year, he hopes that in future, he will be able to genuinely say yes.

The annual decorating contest is another example of Meaningful Connections and Materialism. Luther enjoyed decorating when it was just for fun. When it became a contest, he lost interest in it. Under Luther’s curmudgeonly exterior is the heart of an idealist. He wants the holiday to have meaning again. As Luther walks the neighborhood, seeing his neighbors decorate their trees, he notes the difference between the neighbors whose children decorate the trees and those who criticize those trees as ugly. The ugly trees have meaning that other neighbors don’t see: They represent families spending quality time together rather than engaging in conspicuous consumption.

Walt Scheel represents everything Luther has to lose. Walt has been a materialist in a way that Luther isn’t, and now that Walt’s wife is dying, Walt can no longer rely on conspicuous consumption as a substitute for meaningful connections. Luther sees all the more sharply how much he relies on Nora for social connection and intimacy. Losing her would rob his life of much of its meaning. Luther doesn’t like Walt, but he can still pity him.