I Watched Christmas Vacation With My Visiting Parents, And I Need To Unwrap The Chaos

(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

I’m sure there are countless others with this tradition, but my wife and I can’t go through the holiday season without watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation at least once. Every Christmas for the past 13 years, we’ve sat down by the fireplace (save for the two years we didn’t have one at our old house), popped in that trusty Blu-ray copy, and watched Clark Griswold lose his everloving mind.

With my parents in town for a few days, we decided to all sit down and watch the best of the Vacation series as a family. I mean all of us: my parents, my wife, my three kids, my two dogs, my in-laws’ dog, who’s currently staying with us, my two cats, and a goldfish in a cloudy tank. Like Cousin Eddy’s “shitter,” the house was full. Full of people, full of pets, full of chaos!

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation cast — (Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Between Parents, Kids, Dogs, And Cats, A Lot Was Going On

Let me set the stage for my most recent rewatch of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. After the busiest Saturday of the year, which ended with a cookie party and a last-minute spaghetti dinner two hours later than usual, we decided to watch a movie as a family. My kids, exhausted, overstimulated, and full of sugar, were losing their minds; all the dogs were fighting over trash; the cats were trying to go outside; I was trying to clean; and my dad was going on about the late and great character actors in the Christmas Vacation cast.

That said, it’s easy to imagine that there was a lot going on. I mean, it’s a movie I’ve watched dozens of times over the years, and so it’s okay if I miss a scene or recite one of the iconic quotes a few seconds too late. Still, though, there was a lot going on…

The Griswolds embracing in the snow in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation — (Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)

But The Chaos Of A Full House Made The Experience All The Better

Luckily, the dogs didn’t destroy the kitchen (or chase a squirrel through the house), the cats didn’t bite a strand of Christmas lights, and I didn’t receive a “Jelly of the Month Club” subscription as a bonus. With all of that in mind, the chaos of watching Christmas Vacation with a full house made the experience all the better. Instead of Clark Griswold wearing women’s clothes to keep warm while watching old family videos in the attic, it was more akin to the family, Clark’s boss, and police officers dancing at the end.

The loud, rowdy, overstimulating, and chaotic experience made my most recent rewatch of this all-time great Christmas movie one of the best in memory, and it’s definitely one I won’t forget.

If anything, watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation with my parents took me back to my childhood and made me feel like a kid again. From the fighting siblings to the pets causing a ruckus to family members popping in for a visit, it felt like a trip down memory lane. As far as I’m concerned, the chaos and love of family are what this movie, and the holiday season as well, is all about.

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Philip grew up in Louisiana (not New Orleans) before moving to St. Louis after graduating from Louisiana State University-Shreveport. When he's not writing about movies or television, Philip can be found being chased by his three kids, telling his dogs to stop barking at the mailman, or chatting about professional wrestling to his wife. Writing gigs with school newspapers, multiple daily newspapers, and other varied job experiences led him to this point where he actually gets to write about movies, shows, wrestling, and documentaries (which is a huge win in his eyes). If the stars properly align, he will talk about For Love Of The Game being the best baseball movie of all time.

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