In the Ingles family during the holiday season, there are always the must-see holiday movies. As I sit alone on this Christmas Eve, watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, it got me thinking, what are my top five holiday movies? Well, here is the list and I have checked it twice.
1) National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
The little lights aren't twinkling Clark!
The sarcastic comments launched at family members and a father obsessed with having the perfect family Christmas make this movie what it is. Not to mention, it is set in my home state of Illinois. One cannot help but laugh at the uncouth Uncle Eddy–because we all have family members we prefer to keep on the down low. How could you share the same DNA with that person? Not to mention, the older relative who is losing her mind and sings the Pledge of Allegiance instead of saying Grace.
Most memorable Griswold quotes:
- “The little lights, they aren’t twinkling Clark”
- “You taught me everything I know about exterior illumination”
- “Is your house on fire Clark?”
- “Is Rusty still in the Navy?”
- “Hey Griswold, where are you going to put a tree that size?”
- Why is the stereo all wet, Todd?” Reply: “I don’t know Margo”
- “You better take a rain check on that Art, he has a lip fungus that hasn’t been identified yet”
- “If I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet, I would not be more surprised than I am now”
I absolutely love this movie so much, I even based by Christmas Eve report on it. Go watch!
2) Home Alone
Kevin? Keeeevvvvvviiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnn?
Again, another holiday movie filmed in Illinois! When Home Alone first hit theaters, my brother Bob and I saw it 13 times! Each time was funnier than the last. Since that time, this has become an Ingles family classic. I may not live at home, but when it is on, my family and I are texting back and forth with movie quotes. This is one of my favorite movies.
Most memorable quotes/scenes (where do I start?):
- The ultimate is when Marv has a tarantula put on his face and screams. (Did you know that Daniel Stern allowed producers to put the tarantula on his face once and his scream was actually edited in later?)
- “You know, Kevin, you’re what the French call les incompetents”
- “Ugh, Buzz’s girlfriend” (FYI, the picture was actually a boy with a wig on!)
- “I think we’re getting scammed by a kindergartner”
- “I know that name Snakes” Reply: “Snakes, no, no I don’t know no Snakes”
Fun fact: Producers got the idea for Home Alone after McCauley Culkin starred in Uncle Buck. In that movie, Buck’s girlfriend comes over to babysit two children that are home alone!
3) Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (of course!)
Suck brick kid!
Sequels are usually bad. This one was arguable better than the original movie! Instead of being Home Alone, Kevin McCallister boards the wrong flight at O’Hare (again, set in Chicago) and jets to NYC while his family heads to Florida on another plane. Once there, the goofball burglars he sent to jail, Marv and Harry, are fugitives on the run!
Memorable Quotes:
- “Suck brick kid”
- “Maybe I’m off my hinges, but I believe you. That’s why I’m gonna let you go. I’m gonna give you to the count of three to get your lousy, lyin’, low-down, four flushing carcass OUT my door! 1… 2… “
- “We are no longer the wet bandits, we are the sticky bandits, S-T-ugh”
Fun fact: Duncan’s Toy Chest was actually a bank in Chicago’s financial district converted into a toy store.
4) Scrooged
I was a schmuck, and now I'm not a schmuck!
Filmed in 1988, my older brothers would always watch this movie. I will admit, as a younger girl, some of the scenes scared me, but as an adult, I see the humor in the movie along with a great message. Plus, who doesn’t just love Bill Murray?
Memorable Scenes/Quotes:
- “I don’t mind you shooting at me, Frank, but take it easy on the Bacardi! “
- “Close your eyes…! And think of snowflakes and moonbeams and whiskers on kittens”
- “We’re gonna need champagne for 250 people, and send the stuff that you send to me. Don’t send the stuff that I send to other people”
5) Christmas Story
Ralphie Parker and his BB gun. Who can ever forget, “You will shoot your eye out” or “drink your ovaltine?” The movie, leg lamp in all, is a classic. And whose mother didn’t over do it when came to bundling them up to play outside in the cold? And remember when Ralphie says a cuss word and gets a bar of soap in his mouth? YUCK
Fun Facts:
- The actor who played Ralphie, Peter Billingsley, went on to become a producer in Hollywood
- The Cleveland home the movie was filmed in is actually a museum now that is a tribute to the movie.
