The LAST Tuesday Talk of the year is going down today with Fancy Ashley!
I’m sure you’ve probably seen National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation at some point. The premise of the movie is Clark Griswold played by Chevy Chase is bound and determined to have a “fun, old-fashioned family Christmas” with his family. From his Christmas lights causing a town-wide power outage to the aunt’s cat getting electrocuted the Griswolds’ Christmas is one mishap after another. It’s full of laughs and something we can all relate to because who hasn’t had a Christmas story similar to something Clark endured during the movie?
I’d recommend recording it on TBS or something because then the language is much better!
I actually don’t know if I’d ever watched the entire movie until marrying Tab. His family loves it, watches it every year and can pretty much quote the entire ninety-seven minutes.
Remember the year we all got Griswold-inspired shirts to wear on Christmas?
I’ve been wracking my brain to come up with our most Clark-inspired story from our own Christmas just to bring a little cheer to your day and I have two…
*Tab is one of those guys who really has no clue what Santa is bringing our children until Christmas Eve night rolls around and we’re working like Santa’s elves. {I’m telling you this because he is positive he’d have told me this gift wouldn’t be a good idea.} In 2018, I thought it’d be fun to get Britt one of those Step2 {similar to Little Tykes} Roller Coasters. They must have discontinued them because when I tried to find a picture for you the only one I could find was over a thousand dollars and trust me-hers did NOT cost that much!
It looked just like this one above.
On Christmas Eve night though, as we were putting this together…1. It was really loud to move all those pieces and keep it quiet. I’m positive Ebby Lee and Nixon learned the truth about Santa due to this roller coaster in 2018. #momfail 2. Tab started getting frustrated that it was so big which in turn led to me getting frustrated. I mean the picture looks big but it doesn’t do the entire coaster justice. In our house, it started at the front door and went all the way past the staircase. This thing was GIANT!! It was the kind of Christmas Eve night we went to bed WAY TOO LATE and both of us were lacking great attitudes. Very Clark Griswold, if you know what I mean. But the kids loved it and would go zooming down that coaster all the way to the fireplace where we had to sit up pillows to slow them down or they’d hit the stone going way too fast.
*Griswold Story #2 takes place when I was little. My mom is going to love me sharing this story with all of you, by the way. On Christmas morning, my parents would always sit up a tripod with the video camera to record the gift giving. Anyone else’s parents do this? So, my brother and I ran into the living room super pumped to see what Santa had left us. We ooh-ed, and aah-ed over our gifts and then set up shop to open our family gifts. We always opened gifts one at a time so everyone could see what you’re getting. I remember exactly where I was when this happened…I was sitting on the couch getting ready to open a gift when a MOUSE ran right across the middle of the living room floor headed straight for the kitchen. I take after my mom in many ways and one of those is give us spiders, give us lizards, give us a snake even, but do NOT give us a mouse! EEEKKK!! My mom and I were instantly up on the couch screaming while my step-dad was chasing this mouse! WE WERE A SIGHT! And remember, it was all on camera. 🙂 VERY Clark Griswold! Don’t you think?
Okay, now what about YOU? Do you have a Clark Griswold family Christmas story? I’m going to ask for your stories on Instagram today as well. We’ve all felt a little Griswold-ish at some point during the holidays. Am I right? And hopefully the stories can bring a little smile to your season!
XO
My husband has no clue either what the kids get for presents
Haha!! Love these stories! Thanks for keeping it real!! We always cut down our Christmas tree but the past few years they have been too big that they didn’t even fit in the door to the house, so we had to go out and buy another one! Tis the season!
http://www.elspethsdaybyday.com
I still love those Griswald shirts you guys wore that Christmas! Your MIL is so funny and creative!!!
I would love to see the film from the mouse christmas morning shenanigans because I am the exact same!! Terrified of those critters!
One year we went to my grandmother's house for Christmas, and she lived about 2 hours away. Sadly, Santa accidentally left all of the presents at our house in Dallas. Santa had to call me at Mammaw's house and tell me he didn't see the note that we left about being at my grandmother's house. He said he was very sorry, but he didn't have time to go back and get them, and I could just open them when he got home. I think I was 7. Can you imagine how my parent's FLIPPED when they realized this?
I have a Clark Griswold family story for you. My sister & I were teenagers & both had a boyfriend over. We were sitting in our family room with our parents. We were all watching Christmas Vacation (how fitting!) when a mouse ran across the floor. My dad got out his bb gun & started shooting at the mouse. In the house!
Ok first of all, Craig never has a clue what the boys are getting for Christmas either. Second of all, we also had that roller coaster! It is huge and the boys loved to ride down it into the pool. 😂 And third, the tripod! Craig has always done this every year! It’ll be fun to go back someday and watch them all!!
That Inspired Chick
You know you have to post that video now, right?? Give the people what they want to see! HA!
I think I could quote this movie from start to finish easily! It's my favorite. My husband never has any idea what we've bought for anyone any time of year. Heck he doesn't even know what "he" got me as I ordered, wrapped, and put my own gifts under the tree!
Mine is very much like the movie itself because it involves a real Christmas tree. We had always had a “ fake “ tree but one year the kids wanted a real one. I had grown up with real ones so was familiar with how small they look at the Christmas tree farm and how much bigger they are when you get them inside your actual house. My daughter and I picked out a 8-9’ tree and my husband and son kept saying they didn’t want a “ baby “ tree. Needless to say the tree we ended up with barely fit through the door … touched the ceiling … and it ended up with my husband having to bring his chain saw into the dining room and trimming the tree down in the middle of the floor not once but twice. He had to trim the trunk so much that the hole that the tree farm drilled for the stand was gone which meant a trip to the store to buy the right size drill attachment to re-drill the hole. And 3 more trips to the store to get enough lights and ornaments to even make it look like it had anything on it. To this day we still say “ sorry for the way I acted when we were stringing lights on the tree “ because it involved 3 of us on ladders trying not to crash into the tree while we strung them.