Content Warning: The following article contains discussion of animal death.

Families will soon gather around their streaming services this year to watch an avalanche of Christmas films after exhausting themselves with holiday shopping. But one classic will surely be at the top of the list: Christmas Vacation. Part of the National Lampoon film series involving lovable klutz Clark Griswold and his hapless clan, it's a must-see staple of holiday viewing for a variety of reasons. Its outlandish physical comedy, humorous dialogue, and manic performances highlight the fun and folly of spending Christmas with family.

Clark Griswold wants nothing more than to make sure his family has the merriest Christmas possible. From dragging them to the middle of nowhere to find the perfect tree to painstakingly adorning his house with as many twinkle lights as humanly possible, the traditions mean a lot to Clark, and he wants everyone to enjoy them as much as he does. Clark learns his lesson about what's really important during the season of giving, even if that means giving up his stranglehold on Christmas.

Updated on December 17 by Kayleena Pierce-Bohen: Now that fans have learned that Chris Columbus almost made Christmas Vacation instead of Home Alone, there's never been a better time to reflect on how special the Jeremiah S. Chechik-directed movie was. Both are Christmas classics, but Christmas Vacation's hilarious scenes depicting a dysfunctional family trying to survive the holidays demonstrate what makes the holiday staple so unique.

The Search For The Perfect Christmas Tree

Christmas Vacation - Griswold family

The film opens with Clark stuffing his family into the hatchback and setting off to find the "perfect" Yuletide bush. Amidst the collective chorus of their off-pitch festive songs, Clark doesn't seem to realize when he's about to run into a logging truck, and by the last whisker on Santa's beard, manages to slide right under it.

Freeing the car from under the logging truck entails almost running into a snowplow before soaring off the highway and into the snow-soaked wilderness. The car manages to skid to a halt right in front of the tree farm, where instead of finding something on the lot, Clark must locate the perfect tree in the middle of nowhere. His daughter may or may not get frostbite.

Cousin Eddie's Arrival

Cousin Eddie and Catherine about to get the rubber sheets and gerbils in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

The movie really kicks into comedic high gear with the arrival of Cousin Eddie and his brood. The Griswold patriarch has tried to plan the perfect Christmas, and one of the worst Christmas Vacation things that happens to Clark is Cousin Eddie parking his RV in front of his house. What follows is a highly amusing scene where Eddie introduces various members of his family based on their physical ailments.

Things like Ruby Sue being cross-eyed because she was kicked by a mule, or Rocky having a lip fungus are just some of the colorful ways Cousin Eddie chooses to describe them and make his presence known. It's a scene that really highlights the difference between Clark and Eddie; Clark is so worried about everything being perfect, he can't just enjoy that his family is all together, whereas Eddie revels in a certain chaotic freedom.

"Kiss My A**, Kiss His A**."

Mr. Shirley has words with Clark Griswold in Christmas Vacation

Clark put down a $7,500 deposit on a swimming pool he hopes will be covered by his Christmas bonus, so he makes himself indispensable to Mr. Shirley the last few days before the big holiday, going above and beyond the call of duty in order to secure what he thinks is his rightful reward for an annual job well done.

Just before leaving the office to celebrate Christmas with his family, Mr. Shirley asks him to write up a report he can give to the board about the "Non-Nutritive Cereal Lacquer," and as Shirley and his group of suited goons file out, Clark starts with this line. Clark is mocking the way corporate America often puts up a front of sincerity but doesn't really care about the "little guy," a theme that will return in a much bigger way at the end of the film.

Pussycat Succotash

The family cat in Christmas Vacation

Cats and Christmas aren't usually very mixable, as they consider the Christmas tree to be one giant cat toy. Usually, it's the tree who comes in second in the yearly cat vs. Christmas tree rivalry, but Aunt Bethany's feline wasn't so lucky.

Her cat naturally plays with the baubles on the tree, eats a few needles, and presumes to infiltrate the branches like it's on a covert mission to mess with the tree big time. When Clark goes to plug the tree in, having way too many lights attached to a single outlet, he overloads it and not only does the tree not light up, but the cat explodes.

Clark Reliving The Christmas Past

Clark Griswold in Christmas Vacation

When Clark ventures up to the attic of his house to locate the gifts he's hidden, he comes across not only other gifts he's completely forgotten about but a plethora of paraphernalia and mementos from Christmases past. He starts to watch home movies, entranced by the festive scenes of Christmas memories he's trying to recreate.

During this time, the pull-down staircase he used to access the attic has been replaced, effectively becoming the floor he's standing on reliving his childhood festivities. When his wife comes upstairs holding a present, she reaches up and pulls on the string to the attic, forcing him to come tumbling down.

The Sledding Snafu

Clark takes the family sledding in Christmas Vacation

In order to bring Clark and Eddie's families together, they take an expedition to a hill famous for sledding. Eddie mentions that he can't go down the hill because of the government plate in his head, but Clark's up to the challenge, and greases his sled to ensure it's the fastest one down the hill.

Not only is the commentary from Eddie hilarious in the no-nonsense way it's delivered, but Clark's plan to get traction with his sled leads to a high-speed takeoff that almost causes him serious injury. Like the opening scene with the semi-truck, it relies on adrenaline and facial expression to sell the humor.

Carving The Turkey

A very dry turkey on a table in Christmas Vacation movie

Christmas dinner is one of the best parts of the holiday, besides all the presents and family hoopla. When the Griswold family are all assembled around the dining room table, Clark prepares to cut into what looks on the outside to be a delicious golden turkey.

Upon plunging the knife into its butter-brown flesh, it gives a sickening hissing noise and opens like a xenomorph egg from Alien. With barely any meat inside it and dry as a bone, it's one of the saddest (and strangely most threatening) main courses you'll see in a Christmas movie. Eddie naturally requests the neck.

Clark's Pool Fantasy

Clark's fantasy seen in Christmas Vacation

It isn't a beautiful woman in a red car this time, but it's certainly a beautiful woman in a red bathing suit. After the various fiascos, the Griswold family has endured, Clark tries to get a little peace in the kitchen by fantasizing about her.

She gestures provocatively at him while sauntering around in her festive suit, before discarding it completely and diving into the pool. Clark's fantasy is interrupted by his niece who innocently wanders into the room with her bear, thinking Clark is Santa Claus.

The Lighting Of The House

All Clark Griswold wants to do is have the merriest Christmas possible with his family, and after the entire Christmas dinner was a disaster, he thinks he can redeem their time together by plugging in the holiday lights around his house. He's spent weeks putting them up, and the momentous moment has finally arrived.

Unfortunately, just as everyone gathers outside for the main event, they don't work when Clark tries to plug them in. He keeps checking and re-checking the connection to no avail, until finally, Ellen's sagacity saves the day allowing Clark a single moment of Christmas heroics. The house blazes to life, and causes a few grids to lose power in the process.

Attack Of The Killer Squirrel

Christmas Vacation - Chase looking in tree

When an unexpected guest decides to crash Christmas, the entire family is in on the squirrel hunt. First, the Griswolds try to corner it, then the rottweilers chase it all over the house, causing mayhem and destruction everywhere they go. Tables, chairs, bookshelves, and china cabinets are all collateral damage in pursuit of the furry fiend.

Finally, one of the hounds chases it into the kitchen, with Clark in hot pursuit. When their rampage comes back towards him, he hightails it towards the front door, where an incredibly irate Margo from next door is waiting to give him a piece of her mind. She gets a piece of rabid squirrel instead, with a side of ravenous rottweiler.

Todd & Margo Icicle Fiasco

Margo and Todd looking at their carpet in National-Lampoon's-Christmas-Vacation

A subplot of the movie involves Todd and Margo, Clark's two yuppie neighbors, constantly ridiculing Clark's cheesy attempts to capture Christmas and embracing their own cynical minimalism. They're far too cool and sophisticated to hang lights outside their house or get a Christmas tree, though the Yuletide comes for them both in unexpected ways.

After Clark makes the finishing touches on his Christmas light display, he causes an icicle to shoot out of the gutter and into their home, piercing their stereo and showering the carpet with frozen debris. "Why is the carpet all wet, Todd?" Margo asks. "I don't KNOW, Margo!" he yells, and a legendary scene was born. Perhaps Clark really is the villain of Christmas Vacation after all.

Cousin Eddie & Clark Go Christmas Shopping

Christmas Vacation Clark and Eddie

When Cousin Eddie arrives at Clark's doorstep, he doesn't have any money to give his children a merry Christmas, so Clark takes it upon himself to get gifts for Ruby Sue and Rocky. Their exchange as they putter around the store is another delightful interplay between the two men, each one completely missing the points the other is trying to make.

Clark thinks that if he gives Eddie an inch he'll take a mile, as is evidenced by Eddie piling on items in Clark's shopping cart and suggesting that Clark buy himself something nice on Eddie's behalf. What Clark doesn't know is that Eddie is capable of depthless generosity, he just finds a different way to return Clark's hospitality. For lovers of sarcasm and dry humor, this scene is an understated gem.

The S***ter Was Full

Christmas Vacation cousin eddie draining waste

The silent majesty of Clark's winter morn is demolished by a uniquely disturbing sight outside his window. Christmas day has finally come, and Cousin Eddie is outside, the "a**hole in his bathroom" emptying the chemical toilet from his mobile home into Clark's sewer drain. This visage is not only funny in its own right, but the scene includes one of Cousin Eddie's best Christmas Vacation quotes.

Eddie's reason for such a fragrant display? "The sh***er was full" he merrily declares, hoisting a morning beer to the crisp winter air. Ellen reminds Clark to be kind because Eddie doesn't know any better, to which Clark declares he ought to because what he's doing is illegal.

Clark's Rant

Chevy Chase crazy eyes in Christmas Vacation

When the extended Griswolds try to walk out on Clark's good old-fashioned family Christmas, he reminds them that they're "in this together," Even though it's a "full-blown four-alarm holiday emergency," they're still going to press on, and have the "hap-hap-happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny f***ing Kay."

It's one of the most shocking F-bombs in a PG-13 movie, but Clark isn't done. He rants that when Santa Claus squeezes his "fat white a** down the chimney tonight, he's going to find the jolliest bunch of a**holes this side of the nut house." Only Chevy Chase can deliver each ridiculous line with as much wild-eyed glee as he does in this scene. That is, until his last rant.

Clark's Other Rant (About Mr. Shirley)

Christmas Vacation - Cousin Eddie kidnapping

Cousin Eddie, feeling sorry that Clark didn't get his big Christmas bonus this year, decides to make up for his loss by kidnapping the man responsible, Mr. Shirley. He delivers him right to the Griswold home with a giant red bow wrapped around his body.

What was the impetus Eddie needed to spring into action? A wonderful, maniacal rant by Clark in which he explains exactly what he'd say to Mr. Shirley if he could see him standing in his living room. The expletives strung together are more beautiful than a line of twinkle lights.

NEXT: 10 Quotes From National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation That Live Rent-Free In Fans' Heads