"Are You Serious Clark?"

“See kids, it means something different to everybody and now I know what it means to me.” – Clark W. Griswold Jr.

#11 of 31 Things I Love About Christmas: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

This 1989 masterpiece is second only to A Christmas Story in my eyes for the title of Greatest Christmas Movie Of All Time. I would also dare say this is the best of the four Vacation movies.

Before we go any further in this entry, if Clark’s boss Frank Shirley looks familiar, you may remember him (Brian Doyle-Murray…yes Bill Murray’s brother) as Lou Loomis the boss of caddies at Bushwood Country Club in the modern day classic Caddyshack.

This movie is classic because it is the perfect blend of truly touching and hilarious moments that fit together just right in a rare mix.

One of my favorite little bits is Clark watching the long lost family home movies in the attic, where it’s just a man, his memories and emotion. Then he falls through the ceiling.

Clark trying desperately to give his family and loved ones the Christmas he truly believes they deserve, despite so many setbacks. When Clark Sr. & Clark Jr. talk about Christmases past and Clark asks his father how it got through those holidays that were “always such a mess,” Sr. responds with a simple, comical and oddly touching “I had a lot of help from Jack Daniels,” as if he was a real person.

Then there is the tirade. I don’t know how many takes this took, but I would kill to see the outtakes. It doesn't much more golden than this. (The great "Where's the Tylenol" line was cut, but it was hard finding a clip online that wasn't muted due to copyrights etc).

Then there is the other tirade about Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye.

This movie works, as I said because it melts together the 2 truths of Christmas, that things will go wrong no matter what and being together with family and creating memories no matter how bizarre or comical is what we treasure for Christmases to come. So what if the holiday comes with dry turkey, burned down tree, no bonus (at first, of course), dead cat…all part of Christmas. There have been so many Christmas movies since this one, and many of them seem to fall short. You don’t hit a grand slam when you try to hit one, it just happens that way. Granted this script itself is a riot, but there have been tons of funny Christmas movies, but this one has staying power.

As with A Christmas Story, there is a website devoted to Christmas Vacation memorabilia, including Griswold #00 Chicago Blackhawks jerseys and shirts, the moose egg nog mugs, Cousin Eddie turtle neck and green dickie costumes and even the elaborate countdown to Christmas house that is shown throughout the movie. Lines are freely quoted around the holidays and there is no shortage of them. Not to mention a great soundtrack that is a Christmas must have (Okay, it was never an official release, but it's out there online, trust me).

This is the mark of a successful movie, that 22 years later, scores of people are either digging out their copy to watch or passing it along to kids who are now old enough to watch the movie (don’t even try watching it on television, it cracks me up when I see it is gonna air on ABC FAMILY). Sometimes, somehow, a movie resonates with people for any number of reasons. Do they see Clark in their dad or in themselves? Do they see this family of goofballs and crazies who deep down love each other and enjoy the time spent together in their own? When you hit these very sacred places, you have assured your movie will live on for ages.