Hello!
Welcome to Day 8 of The 12 Days of Books. 
As beautiful and wonderful as this time of year may be, it can often be overwhelming with office Christmas parties, secret Santa, shopping, decorating, baking, and family obligations. Personally, I find joy in the Christmas season, but some people find it stressful.
In Skipping Christmas by John Grisham, Luther and Nora Krank decide that they are going to skip Christmas and take a cruise. Their only daughter will not be home for the holidays so they decide to take a vacation and avoid all of the drama, busyness, and expenses that come with Christmas.
Luther crunches the numbers and discovers that he and Nora had spent six grand on the previous Christmas.
Although they think their plan is genius, the Kranks quickly learn that avoiding Christmas is much easier in theory than in practice. With nosey, festive neighbors, it is difficult for the Kranks to avoid putting up decorations or supporting the community with their time and charitable giving.
I found myself laughing every time Luther justified cancelling Christmas. Even though everything he was doing was practical, it just did not seem right. When the Kranks found out that their daughter would be home for Christmas, their plans go out the window and they have less than twenty-four hours to get their house ready for their annual Christmas Eve party.
Skipping Christmas, published in 2002, was adapted for the screen in 2004 (Christmas With the Kranks) with Tim Allen playing Luther and Jamie Lee Curtis playing Nora. Both the book and the film are wonderful. In this little novel, John Grisham shows that his stories are phenomenal both inside and outside of the courtroom. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Live, Love, Learn,