Skipping Christmas - John Grisham

When I had found out that my parents had gone to Taiwan this holiday season, I had suggested to my sisters that we postpone Christmas -- just delay it until after they had returned from their travels abroad. Instead of a postponement, we will now have two Christmases (not sure if that's the right pluralization -- perhaps Christmasi?) one on the proper day, and another when they return. But because of my suggestion, they decided to give me for Christmas John Grisham's Skipping Christmas, which has been adapted to a movie called "Christmas with the Kranks" which I haven't seen, but stars Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis (which definitely influenced the way I imagined the characters).

Grisham usually writes law-thrillers, and I guess he wanted to try something a bit lighter. This book is short. 227 pages to be exact. In large print. About two hours from start to finish. Just a sacharine sweet sentimental tale about a accountant and his wife who decide to skip Christmas because their only daughter is away in Peru serving the Peace Corps. This book isn't any great piece of modern literature, but it does serve as a modern-day commentary on the commercialization and rituals of the holiday.

Although it was published in November of 2001, I'm surprised that Grisham didn't re-edit some of his scenes before publication to reflect 9-11's new airport security -- during the time between 9-11 and this books initial publication, I had flown and the new security procedures were already in place.