Skipping Christmas

Nora phones; she is getting nowhere with her shopping, and no one has yet accepted her invitation to the party. She tells Luther to start inviting the neighbors. He refuses and hangs up. Spike arrives with a little red wagon too small for the job, but Luther sees no choice. He lets himself and Spike into the Trogdons’ home with the key given to him by Wes Trogdon. He and Spike remove the Trogdons’ ornaments, load the tree onto the wagon, and begin inching it down the Trogdons’ driveway.

Across the street, Ned Becker phones Walt and tells him Luther is stealing the Trogdons’ tree. Walt calls the police. Luther has moved the tree as far as his own driveway—as all his neighbors watch—when the police arrive. They are the same officers who tried to sell Luther the calendar. Luther tries to convince them he is legitimately borrowing the tree, but they are delighted to cuff Luther and load him in their car.

Spike Frohmeyer runs up with his father, and Vic assures the officers that Luther has the keys to the Trogdons’ house, and if Luther says he has permission to borrow the tree, then he does. The officers reluctantly let Luther go. Vic asks Luther what he is doing, but Luther dodges the question. He and Spike get the tree into the house and start decorating it while Walt watches from across the street through binoculars.

Nora returns as Luther and Spike are finishing the tree, and Spike sneaks out the back door. Nora wasn’t able to find turkey or ham, only eight pounds of smoked trout and some crackers and cheese. They have rounded up twelve guests, which is paltry compared to their past parties, when they entertained as many as fifty people. Nora has to rush out again to get wine and the ingredients for Blair’s favorite caramel cream pie. She tells Luther again to go put up Frosty.

Nora leaves, and people start calling to say they can’t come to the party after all. Even Mitch Underwood, whom Luther despises, makes a transparent excuse not to come. Meanwhile, Nora is at the grocery trying to find something she can serve at the party. She encounters a stranger who greets her by name. She knows she has met him but cannot remember his name or who he is. She has a vague memory that he was married but something happened to his wife. He mentions Blair, and Nora blurts out an invitation to him to join the party. He accepts the invitation with obvious delight.

Spike tells his father the Kranks are trying to throw a last-minute Christmas party, and no one wants to come. Vic, Walt, and Ned Becker are watching the Krank house and reporting Luther and Nora’s actions.

Luther waits until just before sunset before dragging Frosty out of the basement. He climbs up to the roof from the back of the house so that none of the neighbors will see him. He wrestles Frosty up onto the icy roof. Walt sees Luther appear on the roof and begins to laugh so hard he can barely tell Vic and Ned what is happening. Meanwhile, Luther slips on a patch of ice, and he and Frosty go skidding toward the ground and certain death, Luther yelling all the way.

As Luther flies off the edge of the roof, he hears Frosty crash to the pavement. Suddenly the rope and extension cord he was using to raise Frosty wraps around his ankle and stops his fall with a yank, leaving him to dangle by one leg. Walt stops laughing long enough to call 911 while the neighbors gather at the Kranks’ house to rescue Luther. As some try to get him down, others gather below to catch him if he should fall. Luther hears sirens, and someone cries out, “There’s Nora.”

An ambulance arrives. Two medics and a firefighter jump out, and they untangle Luther and lower him to the ground. Luther recognizes the firefighter and one of the medics as the ones who came to his house selling fruitcakes. The police officers, Treen and Salino, arrive. The neighbors gather around Luther and Nora at the back of the ambulance, asking what is going on. Luther finally confesses that Blair is coming home with her fiancé and they are trying to throw a last-minute party for her.

Vic starts barking orders. They are going to have a party at the Kranks’ house. They divide up duties—bringing food and decorating the house. Vic orders Officers Treen and Salino to meet Blair at the airport. They balk, but he threatens to call the Chief of Police, and they hustle off. The neighbors promise to come to the party, including the medics and firefighters. Luther and Nora are overwhelmed by the kindness of their community.

Blair is surprised to be met at the airport by Treen and Salino and a police escort. At the Kranks’ home, she and Enrique are met by a crowd of neighbors, carolers on the lawn, and a firetruck and ambulance parked across the street, lights flashing in welcome. The living room is packed with people. Blair notices that it is a different crowd than the business associates who usually attend. Enrique is a hit with everyone. The mysterious stranger Nora met at the grocery store turns out to be called Marty—last name and origin still unknown. He produces a guitar, and he and Enrique sing traditional Peruvian Christmas songs. The only people missing from the party are Walt and Bev.

Luther slips out of the party and crosses the street, carrying the tickets for the Caribbean cruise. Walt answers his knock, and Luther tells Walt and Bev that since he and Nora won’t be able to go on their cruise, they want Walt and Bev to have their tickets. Walt and Bev demur, but Luther persuades them that it is a sincere gift and they accept, immediately starting to pack. Luther goes back across the street, feeling lighter. His house is decorated and full of happy people who have sacrificed their own plans to help him. He realizes how fortunate he is and how foolish it was to try to escape Christmas altogether, though he wryly notes that he might try again next year.