海角大神

You like to think you鈥檝e brought your children up well, as evidenced by the annual听Christmas听card photos.听Together, you delivered toys for the poor, dinner for their families, books for their schools, snowsuits for their clothing drives. Your own kids have done it all 鈥撎齰isiting Santa, caroling, making paper chains for the tree, and simple surprises for Daddy. There were velvet dresses on the girls and navy blazers on the boys.听 By听Christmas听night, you鈥檝e exchanged the gifts, fed the relatives, and listened to the whole big clan鈥檚 attempt to make the high note in 鈥淥, Holy Night.鈥�

After finally closing the door听behind Christmas听2013, you will take off the apron and move enough of the trimmings off the sofa to make room for your little family, now taller than you.听 None of you has any jingle bell left, not even enough to watch a nice听Christmas听movie. Besides, you鈥檝e done the wholesome thing. You鈥檝e watched "White听Christmas"听for so many years that your daughter鈥檚 welcome to her new brother-in-law was a warning: 鈥淟ord help the mister who comes between me and my sister.鈥� You鈥檝e seen 鈥淚t鈥檚 a Wonderful Life鈥� so often that, if you tell your son that you ran into a hometown girl who鈥檚 grown up well, he will respond: 鈥淪he鈥檚 not the kind of girl to help me find the answers, Mom.鈥澨�

Out of necessity, in recent years you have developed a dirty little听Christmas night secret, one that鈥檚 morphing into an old-fashioned tradition. That would be "National Lampoon鈥檚听Christmas听Vacation," with crazy Clark W. Griswold,听aka听Chevy Chase and his,听um, family.

Mildly crude, slightly mean, with an overwhelmingly PG-13 scatology to it, the 1989 film, while quaint in comparison with the newer holiday movies, doesn鈥檛 really fit your听Christmas-perfect stereotype. Not on听Christmas night, at least, when you鈥檙e supposed to feel, well, hushed. But your new tradition places you in good company, apparently. This year "Christmas Vacation" tied for eighth place 鈥� with the far more fraught "Miracle on 34^th 听Street" 鈥� for favorite holiday movie among those polled by the听听parenting website.听 It similarly bears down on the classic greats on all best听Christmas鈥�movie lists.听

Why? 听

Maybe elsewhere听鈥� as in your house 鈥�听the Griswold thing crept in during the teenager years when you鈥檇 do anything, even watch this, not to have conflict. Now, it actually adds something to the tableau. After all, you may have the sport jackets on for the main event, but, when it鈥檚 all said and done, everyone needs a bit of year-end yin with their yuletide yang and this movie delivers.

Now you can embrace the you that you are in your less-than-best moments: the mom who burns the turkey, the teen who sulks in between smirks, the sanctimonious neighbors, the critical in-laws, the odd relations from out of town, a city dweller useless in the company of animals. You can even be the dotty old aunt who unwittingly brings some odd sense of rightness to it all, even if she鈥檚 got the holiday wrong. But perhaps most important, you can be like the hapless dad, all heart, who stares down temptation and seemingly inevitable failure and never stops believing听 he can light up life for his little corner of the world. There's no sonorousness of Bob Wallace鈥檚 鈥淐ount Your Blessings鈥� in this flick, or the urgency Zuzu鈥檚 petals have for George Bailey. Chevy Chase鈥檚 very shtick is the man who falls. Here he staggers to his feet again and again, from yet one silly, slapstick holiday disaster to another, to deliver the ultimate听Christmas听gift: hope. 听

It鈥檚 about all you can muster in those waning hours of听Christmas. Well, maybe one last carol: 鈥淥h say can you see, by the dawn鈥檚 early light?... 鈥�