Picture of Christmas

Jack Thompson's kids are fighting non-stop this Christmas. Yet the season holds wonderful memories for Jack. He relates the story of his family's magical Christmas back in 1965 when life could not be worse. The stage comes alive with Jack, now 13, with his dad about to lose his business. Mom is worried about the two girls they are sheltering from an abusive home. Grandma, newly widowed, has come to live with them while irresponsible Aunt Hilda and her over-pampered son, Little Claude, arrive for an extended visit. Jack's older sister, Corrie, has a boyfriend that their older brother, Billie, looks forward to teasing. Luckily for the boyfriend, Billie is distracted by the fun of dunking Little Claude head first into the upstairs toilet in order to show the little brat the consequences of being so obnoxious. Add a disagreeable neighbor who constantly threatens to sue, an evil used-car salesman, a bus load of children stranded by a winter storm, and we have what should be the wildest Christmas Eve in history. The results are both hilarious and poignant in this play, which easily combines two different decades. Performance time about 90 minutes.