990WBOB
  • WBOB READS
  • WBOB Radio
  • Past Casts
  • F Bomb Friday
  • Register To Win
  • Weather
  • Contact
  • About
    • WBOB Press Releases
    • Join Our Team!
    • CHARITY GALA

Embracing Your Inner Griswold

12/16/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Allan Giberti

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is a modern-day Christmas classic, it’s one of those movies that we’ll watch over and over, from start to finish. For many of us it’s because it contains the ingredients necessary for a good Christmas movie. It’s very relatable, it’s extremely easy to identify with the characters, the comedy highlights the absurdities that are our lives and of course more Holiday Cheer than you can shake an elf at.

​I feel Clark’s pain. We all want that perfect Christmas, not for ourselves but for our families and those we love. It’s not a status thing like throwing the best Christmas Party and having people talk about it for years to come. It’s more about giving the gift of Christmas memories that will be cherished for a lifetime.
One thing you need to accept is that everyone’s family is crazy, including your own. Have you ever had to have “that talk” with someone you were involved with before they met your family? I’m not talking about your immediate family, your parental units or your siblings. I’m talking about your extended family, your aunts, uncles and cousins. That crazy family, to which I’m sure you’re now nodding in agreement.

For those of us lucky enough to grow up with a large crazy family, we all remember the insanity that came before a holiday gathering, the cleaning, the preparation and the growing parental/child holiday tension. Thank God Santa couldn’t read minds because I’d be waking up to nothing on Christmas morning. Don’t worry Rusty, we’ve all been there.

Despite the family drama, the craziness, the quirkiness, the looser your cousin married, the snide remark that may, or may not, have been made in jest, aside from all of that we still love them. Besides, I’m sure your cousin had the “crazy family” talk with her looser husband before he met all of you. Embrace the insanity, embrace your inner Ellen Griswold.

Wanting to make Christmas perfect is normal but perfect is subjective. Growing up I was lucky to be in the family that had the rest of the extended family over. Some years my father would have considered “perfect,” meaning everything from dinner, to desert, to gift-giving all went out without a hitch.


For me, perfect was the year all of us kids waited for everyone to fill their plates, say grace and then we somehow convinced everyone to play musical chairs before dinner. The losers had to eat at the kids table, us kids got to eat at the grown-up’s table and you had to eat whatever was on the plate in front of you. The silliness and laughter continued until everyone went home.


But other than wanting to give his family the perfect Christmas, his other Christmas gift to his family is an inground pool and in order to have it for next summer, he has to pay for it now. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the money right now but he will once he gets his annual company Christmas bonus. Problem solved; Clark writes a check.


Sadly, Clark’s employer cancelled the Christmas bonuses without warning in order to save money.


For anyone who hasn’t seen National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, I won’t give away the ending, but it ends in true Griswold fashion.


In the end, Clark had it right. You can plan the perfect Christmas, but don’t expect your family, the Christmas lights, your neighbors and your boss to cooperate.


As far as the Christmas bonus goes, if any of you got as Ruby Sue put it, “The shaft” this year, remember that 266,000 new jobs were added in November. How’s that for a gift?


​The immortal words of Clark W. Griswold Jr., “Hey! If any of you are looking for any last-minute gift ideas for me, I have one. I'd like Frank Shirley, my boss, right here tonight. I want him brought from his happy holiday slumber over there on Melody Lane with all the other rich people and I want him brought right here, with a big ribbon on his head, and I want to look him straight in the eye and I want to tell him what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey shit he is! Hallelujah! Holy shit! Where's the Tylenol?”


You can try, you can fight but, in the end, Christmas is what you make it. Enjoy Christmas, enjoy your family in whatever form it comes in and have a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.


Allan Giberti is the host of RI Red Radio on 990WBOB.com. You can listen to Allan live on Mondays at 7pm and Tuesdays at 8pm. All times Eastern.

Read More 990WBOB

  • Three Blind Refs
  • WATCH: Free Guy! Trailer Breakdown & CW's Crisis Crossover
  • ​HO NO NO: Avoiding A Shameful Office Christmas Party
Comments

    WBOB
    Original
    ​Reads

    Picture

    Unbiased, Unfiltered. WBOB's Original Reads feature our brightest and boldest personalities, offering their two-cents on the goings on of news, sports, politics, entertainment, and business. -- Are our opinions always PC? Nope. Are they always perfect? Nah. But, are they always 100% authentic? Absolutely!


    LISTEN
    ​TO WBOB ORIGINAL PODCASTS

    Picture
    Listen to
    ​Past BOBCasts

    WBOB 
    Best Reads
    Brought To You By
    TripAdvisor.com

    Picture

    Celebrating David Clyde: A Wild Passionate Friend To All


    Picture

    Search 
    The Archives


    Reads From Our Friends

    Picture

    The Best Game Development Tools: How to Make Your Own Game


    Contact Us
    info@990WBOB.com


Search For Your Favorite WBOB Author,
​or BobCast

990WBOB 
An Independent Media Outlet.

The views opinions and thoughts expressed do not  reflect those of 990WBOB, its management or its staff. All Rights Reserved 990WBOB.com 2007-2020
​
Contact WBOB HERE

WBOB Reads

Weather

Live BOBCasts

Past Casts

Contact Us

Join Our Team!

Featured Supporters

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Photo used under Creative Commons from nzhamstar
  • WBOB READS
  • WBOB Radio
  • Past Casts
  • F Bomb Friday
  • Register To Win
  • Weather
  • Contact
  • About
    • WBOB Press Releases
    • Join Our Team!
    • CHARITY GALA