Factoring in the number of times I've seen National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, I would've thought it was impossible to catch something I'd never noticed before, and yet here we are. During my annual viewing of the 1989 holiday staple, which is surely one of the best Christmas movies of all time, my eye caught something going on behind Clark during one of his more awkward scenes.
No, I'm not talking about him fumbling his way through a conversation with a polite saleswoman at a department store, though that scene makes me cringe every time. Nor am I referring to any of the most popular Christmas Vacation movie quotes. The scene I'm talking about happens right around the halfway point of the movie, when Clark goes into his boss's office to present him with his Christmas gift. Mr. Shirley takes a break from yelling at someone ("I'll retool you!") over the phone to instruct Clark to put the gift on the table with the rest of them, which Clark does. Of course, it's easy to see the row of gifts on the table, but I never noticed that they all appear to be the same gift, including whatever it is Clark and Ellen came up with to give to Mr. Shirley.
I don't know if we're supposed to be able to guess what the gift is, but the L-shaped package is so distinct that it has to be intentional that every single one of the gifts on the table must be the same thing.
Based on what little we know about the man, I'd say if you wanted to get on Mr. Shirley's good side, get him an hourglass...
That everyone got Mr. Shirley the same gift does make me dislike the man a little bit less for constantly getting Clark's name wrong and for not appreciating the report he provided for the presentation. Does it excuse him for swapping a proper Christmas bonus for a Jelly of the Month club? Of course not. But I can see why he'd be less than thrilled at the sight of yet another gift shaped exactly like all of the other gifts he already received.
Maybe we'll never know what Clark and everyone else at his company got the boss for Christmas, but I haven't been so excited to spot something I never noticed before in a rewatch of the movie since the first time I realized Cousin Eddie was wearing a turtleneck dicky under his sweater.
Christmas Vacation can currently be watched streaming with a Max subscription or a Disney+ subscription.
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