Christmas with the Kranks

Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis are Mr. and Mrs. Krank in the movie, "Christmas with the Kranks". They make a choice to skip Christmas and book a trip to Caribbean. Everyone around them is preparing for Christmas except the Kranks. Their daughter calls to announce she will be coming over to celebrate Christmas and the Kranks rush to get up their decorations. They hurriedly plan a big Holiday party at their home.

At the end of the movie, Mr. Krank is sitting in his home with friends and family all around him. His big smile shows the inner joy he is feeling. As he looks outside his home, he notices the elderly couple across the street quietly sitting at the table. He walks across the street to deliver a ham and asks how the couple is doing. The husband apologizes for missing the party but the wife has a terminal illness and the couple is not in the Holiday spirit.

Mr. Krank wishes the couple a Merry Christmas and says good bye. As he is walking back to his home filled with laughter and music, he stops in the middle of the street and turns around to see the lonely couple. He knocks on the door a second time and asks to come in. He offers the couple two tickets to the Caribbean, the plane is leaving the next day. This is a complete package with airfare, hotel, and rental car. Since he failed to buy trip insurance, he cannot get a refund. The couple resists the gift at first. There are lots of excuses. The final roadblock is the cat which Mr. Krank doesn't really like but he offers to watch it so the elderly couple can enjoy the gift.

In the final scene, Mrs. Krank shares with her husband the conversation she had with the lady across the street who called to say thank you. Her husband's plans changed and he failed to skip Christmas. As the couple embraced, Mrs. Krank told him, "maybe you can skip Christmas next year?" Mr. Krank may have been a bah humbug kind of guy but something happened inside his heart and everything changed. May you experience the real meaning of Christmas during this special time of year.