Line #1 Fridge/NationalLampoonsChristmasVacation


1	!! FridgeBrilliance
2	* The incredibly-senile Aunt Bethany brings "presents" [[note]]Really her cat and a Jell-O mold[[/note]] wrapped in "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" paper. Christmas ''is'' a birthday - rather, it's that of Jesus.
3	* Could also count as FridgeHorror: Aunt Bethany asks Clark if his house is on fire, and Clark tiredly replies that it's just Christmas lights. While this could be taken as a sign of her old age, she could have ''actually'' been smelling smoke: all those lights generate a lot of heat, so it could have been causing the wood siding of the house to smolder!
4	** They won't generate the 400+ degrees needed to start burning wood and would pop long before hitting that threshold.
5	* Cousin Eddie's awful suits were probably the only "nice" clothes someone as poor as him could afford (after they turned up in second-hand shops when they went out of style).
6	** This was confirmed by the costume designer, who said she bought Eddie's suits at Goodwill.
7	* When Clark thanks Mr. Shirley for sending a Christmas Card to his family, Shirley shoots a look at his closest flunky, who quickly says, "Corporate Card." Shirley gives him a quick double-take then leaves. Since we later find out he cancelled bonuses; the double-take looks like a "What, you wasted money on cards?"
8	* The title has some ExactWords, as the movie is about a "Christmas Vacation" and, despite the buildup to Christmas itself, actually ends late on Christmas Eve, making it perhaps the most iconic Christmas movie not to feature Christmas itself.
9	* Are Ellen's parents mean to Clark just because of the obligatory "asshole in-laws" trope, or might there still be some hard feelings from [[Film/NationalLampoonsVacation that time he left the corpse of one of their sisters on her son's doorstep while making a road trip to Walley World]]?
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11	!! FridgeHorror
12	* Mr. Shirley canceled ''all'' bonuses, meaning that nobody in the company got the bonus they were counting on. While his coworkers' Christmases were probably less disastrous than Clark's, they were probably ruined nonetheless - and ''unlike'' Clark, most of them likely weren't going to spend them on something unnecessary like a pool. This is somewhat mitigated when Mr. Shirley reinstates them at the end, though the employees won't know that until later.
13	* Clark's not going to be able to afford that pool he wanted. His Christmas lights consumed so much power that they caused a blackout across town and another generator needed to be turned on at the plant. You can even see the electric meter start rapidly spinning after the lights turn on the first time. When the electric bill comes in, [[YankTheDogsChain his Christmas bonus might as well have not existed in the first place]].
14	** That's not even taking into consideration all the damage sustained to the Griswolds' home and belongings. Even without adjusting for inflation, they'll be looking at thousands of dollars' worth of repairs (One expert estimated that the total bill would be close to ''[[https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/national-lampoons-christmas-vacation-house-damage-estimate-36855593 $52,000]]''). And how much do you want to bet that the Chesters (the Griswolds' yuppie neighbors) will file a lawsuit against the family for all the property and emotional damage ''they'' suffered that holiday season?
15	* [[BigFriendlyDog Snots]] (a Rottweiler) accidentally tackles Margo, who's already at her RageBreakingPoint, which means it's almost certain she wants the dog put down--and the law would be on her side.
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Context Fridge / NationalLampoonsChristmasVacation