Our Favorite Christmas Movies: #2 Christmas Vacation

Over the last three weeks we learned why Georgia Small connects with “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” Eric Neubauer loves “A Christmas Story,” and Michael Flickinger claims “A Muppet Christmas Carol” as his favorite Christmas movie. This week, we hear why Chris Larson says “Christmas Vacation” tops his seasonal watch list.

“It hits all the marks for a Christmas movie, it has family chaos/drama, it’s a John Hughes Movie, and it’s great to watch with a group of people,” Chris said. “When you’ve watched it enough times, it’s very quotable both while watching the movie and in life.”

“Christmas Vacation” is based on a magazine short story written by John Hughes. The movie is based in Chicago, but it was actually filmed in Colorado. But a true fan of the show needs to make the trek to Wadsworth, Ohio where you can visit a replica Griswold home each Christmas.

Chris is sure he watched the movie when he was younger, but he didn’t really connect with it until he was engaged to his wife.

“She had family who had Christmas Eve traditions that included her uncle reading from a large bible, candlelight service at church, and family movie time. Her uncle had recorded an entire evening’s Christmas Special, complete with Claymation Rudolph, The California Raisins, and Christmas Vacation,” Chris said.

And when you’re talking about an entire evening’s worth of programming recorded straight from the TV onto a VHS tape and relying on it year after year to carry on a prized family tradition, what could possibly go wrong?

“One year, the VHS tape was lost in the shuffle of a move, we tried watching a DVD of the movie, however without the 80’s commercials, surprise winter weather warning to scare the kids, and lack of TV edits, it didn’t go over so well,” Chris said.

Luckily, the tape was eventually found, and the tradition could continue.

“Several DVD copies were made to ensure we didn’t have to rely on dinosaur video entertainment hardware to continue watching our favorite Christmas movie.”