From the mouth of a true genius, Clark W. Griswald. It wouldn't be Christmas without watching Christmas Vacation and the Christmas Story at least a dozen times, at least at our house. It is pretty bad when my kids, at very young ages, would answer my question with the famous line from Christmas Vacation, "I don't know, Margo."
I have never gotten into the older, classic Christmas movies. I have never seen "It's a Wonderful Life" or even the original Scrooge movies...what is the name of that? There have been remakes...it's escaping my memory. But you pop in Christmas Vacation or Christmas Story and we are all set.
Throughout the Christmas season, you will often hear my family quoting lines from both movies. I cannot tell you how many times we'll say "Fragile" in Italian of course, or "It was...soap poisoning!" Lane is all about the BB gun these days, so of course, he's heard, "You'll shoot your eye out, son," a time or two this year. There's a house down south in the country that has a leg lamp...they always put it front and center in their picture window during Christmas. How can you not chuckle when you get a glimpse of that as you pass by?
And how can you possibly sing Deck the Halls, without adding "Sing it, Russ" and then the "Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la. Then there's Uncle Eddie...everyone has one, you know it's true. His famous line about the RV and the sewer is classic, but I best not repeat it here. We don't even put Christmas lights up outside much anymore because who can compete with Clark's magnificent display?!
You can hear the snickers around the table when someone makes the mistake of asking another to say Grace before the meal...because as you know, she passed away thirty years ago. And the whole time the blessing is being said, you see the shoulders of the person next to you shaking from laughter. And if someone brings a jello mold, well, you know...no one wants to eat that!
BB guns, leg lamps, the dream of a bowling alley, a pink bunny rabbit suit, a bar of Life Boy soap, your boss with a big red bow on his head, jelly-of-the-month-club subscription, breaking wind and, if you don't mind, buying yourself something real special is what Christmas is all about...right?!
No one should let Christmas past without watching these two classics. If you haven't seen them, shame on you. Get out and get them. Don't rent them, buy them. They never get old.
FYI, if you find yourself without supper on Christmas day, visit your local Chinese Restaurant...of course, you may be the only people there, but maybe they'll sing to you :) Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
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