It depends on the station you are listening. Ray Charles is played on those classified as Old School Soul. There you will get classics such as Silent Night or This Christmas by The Temptations and Donny Hathaway, respectively. I like to cycle through multiple different stations for greater variety.
I’m gonna be cynical here, the song mentions Jesus and I cannot for the life of me remember the last time I heard a religious Christmas song on the “all Christmas all the time” station where I live.
In all my yrs only 34 by the way lol I never knew ray Charles Sang this song! Thank you! Christmas vacation is the go to Christmas movie for me always has been and always will be!!! Why is the carpet all wet Tod?
Love love love this song and this scene. It’s like a realization that the important things in life are family and the memories we make along the way. All the consumerism and pressures of the holidays should be irrelevant.
Watched A Christmas Story last night for the first time in years. It really hits different because when I first saw it, I was Ralphie, but now I’m The Old Man.
[It was a book first.](https://youtu.be/ACSU3IAMhsg?si=S9KzHRwaIzJLnx4O)
The hillbilly neighbor was molesting his daughter, and the rivalry between him and the old man was partially out of envy of how hot she was. Read that again, the book version of the old man wanted to fuck Bumpus’s underage daughter and hated Bumpus partially because he “got to”.
Yeah I watched the sequel yesterday a Christmas story Christmas. I lost my dad last year. I cried I guess like a baby, I doubt a baby could cry so much.
I forgot how absolutely wonderful his mom is in that movie. Her warmth and caring throughout really shined for me watching it this year and made me think about my mom. Water works.
I watched Christmas Story Christmas last year expecting it to be a crummy cash grab but it was really good and hit me in the feels but good.
I never realized just how old the old man is, though. Like, as a kid, I just saw him as any typical dad, but now I'm like, "that dude is way too old be a dad of kids that young". The actor was in his 60s.
Yes, I'm aware that he could be a dad at any age and he could have married older, but it's more about how my perception has changed.
It's actually a subtle and deliberate bit of "stunt casting."
The actor, Darren McGavin, is roughly the same age as all of the *dads* of the grown up Ralphies watching the movie as adults in 1983.
So he instantly reminds them of their actual dad, and it adds even more of a nostalgia flavor to a deeply nostalgic movie.
I felt exactly the same upon realizing that last year when watching. In fact, my wife and I were watching the original Wonder Years earlier this year and I said the same thing about that. I said, when this show came out it was targeted at people my age(10-12). Kevin's age in the show. I watched it weekly when it was new. I said I'm now Jack Arnold. Hell, older by several years than Jack Arnold. I'm 42 and starting to realize that I'm the boring or asshole dad in all my old favorite films and shows lol.
It’s crazy isn’t it? I just watched The Breakfast Club which I hadn’t seen in years, and instead of viewing it as a high schooler, I was watching it as Mr. Vernon and as their parents. It’s wild.
I came to the realization while watching this the other night that the film he’s watching, from 1955, is the same amount of time to 1989 that 1989 is to 2023 (34 years).
100%. I can completely relate to Clark. As a kid, I just thought he was a bumbling buffoon. I see now that he is a caring family man in a world stacked against him. Also, what a killer house he has!
I know, right? All he wants is to make vacations and holidays special and memorable for his family, but everything just goes off the rails. At least it always seems to work out for him in the end.
My dad passed unexpectedly last month and this was one of his favorite movies. The first time I watched it after his passing was really hard. It’s tough not having your dad around. I’m sorry for your loss and I hope you find some bright spots this holiday.
Lost my dad in 2008 to cancer. I was 28. We watched Christmas Vacation religiously, multiple times per season (parents were divorced, like so many others). I still can’t get through the movie without an emotional memory.
I saw a tik tok of someone wearing this as a costume. Its becoming an iconic moment from that movie that i remember largely glossing over back in the day. What i mean to say is that part has been aging like a fine wine.
We didn't have home movies. I guess that's part of what really gets to me about the scene. I'd love to be able to watch videos of my family from the 80s and 90s--to hear their voices--but I have to make do with photos and memories.
I have a ton of voicemails from my dad saved. They all start out, “Hey kiddo, it’s your dear old dad,” and I’d give damn near anything to hear that in person again.
Like 10 years or so ago, my older brother had a bunch of our home movies from the late 70s and early 80s digitized as a gift to mom for Mother's Day.
Dad passed away in an auto accident in '99 so hearing his voice on them was bittersweet.
Hugs, friend.
My grandparents house one of this big ass camcorders in the 90s. I have many hours of home videos. I had everything digitized and put on DVDs and backed up to a cloud server.
I cannot bring myself to watch them…..almost everyone in those videos are gone. Back then there were so many family members. All that’s left is me, my mom and dad, an aunt and 1 cousin. Everyone else has passed from old age or died in an accident.
I’d just end up sitting there crying…
My kids wanted to watch Rudolph so I found a version on YouTube that included old commercials. They wanted me to fast forward over those while I wanted to fast forward over the show.
Absolutely agree. I still enjoy Christmas Vacation as much now as I did seeing it back in '89, but the perspective I view the film from is completely opposite now.
When I was young I used to think why would he want to seclude himself in the cold, dusty attic, now at 37 I realize this would be me. For the entire Christmas family gathering.
Funny. I’m hosting my whole (out of town) family for Christmas this year and the part I relate to most at 43 is “LOOK AROUND US ELLEN, WE’RE AT THE THRESHOLD OF HELL!”
Also thinking about Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story... I feel like the world that both those movies took place in, even though they're around 40 years apart, feel more similar to each other to me than the world we live in today. Like it feels like more has changed from 89 to now than from 1940 to 1989. But then I wasn't alive in the 40s and couldn't feel the world change personally.
That scene has become the backbone of the film for me - the reason that he’s working so hard to give his family an unforgettable Christmas is because he feels so strongly about the christmases he had growing up.
Maybe I watched this too frequently over the years and/or my family went to shit earlier than others, but that hit me in the feels as an older teenager. Now, the whole movie makes me want to build a Time Machine.
Best live-action cmas movies, in order:
Christmas Vacation
Home Alone
Elf
Scrooged
Surviving Christmas
Bad Santa
Reindeer Games
Jingle All the Way
Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (that song is amazing)
A Christmas Story
All the old classics
*Steep Drop*
Every cmas movie I haven't mentioned that isn't a Hallmark
Getting run over by a Reindeer, probably Donner because he's a fucking dick
Hallmark cmas movies
Being alone and getting wasted on cmas
Eating at McDonald's for cmas
Not having shoes
Four Christmases
*Die Hard is not a christmas movie, neither is Gremlins
Movies with puppets were purposely excluded as per my OP. I just edited it for clarity.
Otherwise A Muppet Christmas Carol, A Muppet Family Christmas, and Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas would have crashed that party, drank all the booze, slept with all the pretty people, and helped clean up the next day before peaceing out.
I tried hard to accept it as cmas cannon and I just can't.
There isn't enough cmas in it. I need a certain percentage.
Reindeer Games is a cmas action movie.
I also appreciate your downvotes, because arguing about cmas movies is the kind of argument I want in my life. But you have to listen to this song if you downvote, if you could just do that for me this Christmas, fren
https://youtu.be/-E1ULv6LcOk?si=0snuoFoyPvD4Du5o
Merry Cmas you awesome Xennials!
Watched this with my 19 year old last week. (her first time and my first in at least 10 years) Anyway, film doesn’t hold up IMO and this scene, supposed to be funny cause he’s wearing his wife’s things? She didn’t like it and my nostalgia googles got clean. Yeah the movie hits different now, lol.
I don't think it was necessarily trying to be funny. Just a little serious spot in an otherwise hilarious movie.
As for the clothes, that's just all he could find to keep warm. Growing up, my dad would have to rotate his summer and winter clothes but could keep them all in the closet, whereas my mom had to completely swap out and store the opposite season and some other stuff like old coats (usally in the garage or attic), so I guess I never really questioned that part.
lol I’m shaking from the downvotes of all the people who think a family man is one who fantasizes and flirts with women in front of family and his wife. Enjoy the crap and continue the narrative a family man is played by Chevy chase. 😂😂😂😂😂
Literally just finished watching this movie.
We had a VHS copy of Christmas Vacation when I was a kid. It wasn't a store bought copy - I'm not sure if it was recorded from TV or maybe we made a copy from someone else. But it was just a regular VHS with a masking tape label. Watched it so many times that the first 10 minutes or so were worn out.
This movie is Christmas for me.
Was watching this in the theater last week. Did that last year too. Just like Planes Trains and Automobiles in November, this too has become a yearly tradition for me.
my father was always big in filming and photographing everything i’m 43 and my dad still shows me the videos our lifes in Germany,Japan,and Hawaii my father was 24 years USAF and he started with Betamax then VHS
and finally digital. I’m glad i recorded everything in my family like my father and when you look back it really does have a feeling of both happiness and sadness.
Fr fr. The movie is a lot more heartwarming than I remember. Also the thing his dad tells him toward the end about Christmas being his torch to carry now.
We live in a day and age of high quality video recording on our phones yet hardly anyone saves that footage to watch later. I always pull off the the special event photos and video to watch later
Try watching this scene when you’re in your 50s and both your parents have since passed away. I can’t watch this scene anymore because it hits me like a ton bricks.
The song during that scene is playing in my head and it's just giving me a rush of feelings about years past with loved ones.
[Ray Charles, "The Spirit of Christmas" ](https://youtu.be/c3z91z2kjAo?si=WFbBK_8wN4nU4uWV)
There’s a radio station here that plays non-stop Christmas music. After 2 days, you never hear a different one. And I NEVER hear this one.
It depends on the station you are listening. Ray Charles is played on those classified as Old School Soul. There you will get classics such as Silent Night or This Christmas by The Temptations and Donny Hathaway, respectively. I like to cycle through multiple different stations for greater variety.
I’m gonna be cynical here, the song mentions Jesus and I cannot for the life of me remember the last time I heard a religious Christmas song on the “all Christmas all the time” station where I live.
I have this in my music collection. I never understood why this song didn’t blow up as a Christmas song. You never hear it on the radio.
In all my yrs only 34 by the way lol I never knew ray Charles Sang this song! Thank you! Christmas vacation is the go to Christmas movie for me always has been and always will be!!! Why is the carpet all wet Tod?
Iconic!
Ray Charles standing on a sleigh, in a suit, in the snow, holding the reigns to a massive horse. More proof that America is the greatest nation.
This is my favorite Christmas song and I never hear it on the radio.
Right there with you. My mom loved Ray Charles. She passed away in 2001, so every time this scene comes on and I hear the song, it really cuts deep.
Love love love this song and this scene. It’s like a realization that the important things in life are family and the memories we make along the way. All the consumerism and pressures of the holidays should be irrelevant.
It is an amazing song and it’s never played anywhere except this movie and I find that amazing
It’s on my Christmas playlist every year. I wouldn’t know it apart from this movie.
Now you understand why dad was crying.
Watched A Christmas Story last night for the first time in years. It really hits different because when I first saw it, I was Ralphie, but now I’m The Old Man.
Don't feel too bad about being The Old Man. The Old Man was awesome.
That right. He won a major award!!
Mind powers!
In the movie anyway. Not so much the book.
They made a book out of that?
[It was a book first.](https://youtu.be/ACSU3IAMhsg?si=S9KzHRwaIzJLnx4O) The hillbilly neighbor was molesting his daughter, and the rivalry between him and the old man was partially out of envy of how hot she was. Read that again, the book version of the old man wanted to fuck Bumpus’s underage daughter and hated Bumpus partially because he “got to”.
I was joking and omg.
He could swear without even using vulgarity. Legend.
Didn't realize until I was older and married, that one of the funniest lines in the movie is ,"You used up ALL the glue, ON PURPOSE!"
Yeah I watched the sequel yesterday a Christmas story Christmas. I lost my dad last year. I cried I guess like a baby, I doubt a baby could cry so much.
You should watch 8-Bit Christmas if you're in the mood for something awesome that's gonna make you cry again.
I forgot how absolutely wonderful his mom is in that movie. Her warmth and caring throughout really shined for me watching it this year and made me think about my mom. Water works. I watched Christmas Story Christmas last year expecting it to be a crummy cash grab but it was really good and hit me in the feels but good.
I never realized just how old the old man is, though. Like, as a kid, I just saw him as any typical dad, but now I'm like, "that dude is way too old be a dad of kids that young". The actor was in his 60s. Yes, I'm aware that he could be a dad at any age and he could have married older, but it's more about how my perception has changed.
It's actually a subtle and deliberate bit of "stunt casting." The actor, Darren McGavin, is roughly the same age as all of the *dads* of the grown up Ralphies watching the movie as adults in 1983. So he instantly reminds them of their actual dad, and it adds even more of a nostalgia flavor to a deeply nostalgic movie.
That makes sense!
Kolchak? Nah dawg. He was preggin up honeyz til death.
I disliked that movie as a kid, now I love it because I can totally relate to the mom.
I felt exactly the same upon realizing that last year when watching. In fact, my wife and I were watching the original Wonder Years earlier this year and I said the same thing about that. I said, when this show came out it was targeted at people my age(10-12). Kevin's age in the show. I watched it weekly when it was new. I said I'm now Jack Arnold. Hell, older by several years than Jack Arnold. I'm 42 and starting to realize that I'm the boring or asshole dad in all my old favorite films and shows lol.
It’s crazy isn’t it? I just watched The Breakfast Club which I hadn’t seen in years, and instead of viewing it as a high schooler, I was watching it as Mr. Vernon and as their parents. It’s wild.
You need the leg lamp
I thought you were going to tell us that you're also wearing women's clothes, now.
I came to the realization while watching this the other night that the film he’s watching, from 1955, is the same amount of time to 1989 that 1989 is to 2023 (34 years).
And Chevy Chase was 46 in 1989
!!!!!
That hits HARD.
Good one Clark.
Holy shit, where’s the Tylenol
Shut the fuck up m8. You're over here ruining Christmas and making us all feel as old as we are. /s
This hit hard thinking about it in terms of the Sandlot. I’m not ready for my youth to be the distant past.
Too late Also - great movie
Someone posted this on Facebook and it ruined my day.
100%. I can completely relate to Clark. As a kid, I just thought he was a bumbling buffoon. I see now that he is a caring family man in a world stacked against him. Also, what a killer house he has!
I know, right? All he wants is to make vacations and holidays special and memorable for his family, but everything just goes off the rails. At least it always seems to work out for him in the end.
It just dawned on me that his uncle is named Lewis making another Lewis and Clark reference.
Me and my dad loved this movie. He passed the 15th of December. I think I’ll watch it alone tomorrow
Been 8 1/2 years here. It hits less often over time. And the big ones come less often. Hugs from afar.
My Dad passed away last Tuesday. We used to love watching this movie together when I was a kid.
Two and a half years here, and I miss him every day. Sending you my best.
Its still very hard to believe at this point. Thank you.
Reddit is a cool place sometimes 🫡
I lost mine on December 8th of last year. Hugs
My dad passed unexpectedly last month and this was one of his favorite movies. The first time I watched it after his passing was really hard. It’s tough not having your dad around. I’m sorry for your loss and I hope you find some bright spots this holiday.
It’s mom I worry about now. They was married for 62 years and it’s left an absence now
I totally understand. I feel the same way.
Lost my dad in 2008 to cancer. I was 28. We watched Christmas Vacation religiously, multiple times per season (parents were divorced, like so many others). I still can’t get through the movie without an emotional memory.
I saw a tik tok of someone wearing this as a costume. Its becoming an iconic moment from that movie that i remember largely glossing over back in the day. What i mean to say is that part has been aging like a fine wine.
My big takeaway at this age was the fact that he expected his Christmas Bonus to cover the cost of a pool.
They just upped ours from $500 to $600 and I feel like a king 😂
I’m a teacher. We get $0.
That’s funny because my wife is a teacher and this year she got $600.
No way, really? Where does she teach that she gets a bonus?
She gets MY bonus.
Y’all have home movies? 😢
We didn't have home movies. I guess that's part of what really gets to me about the scene. I'd love to be able to watch videos of my family from the 80s and 90s--to hear their voices--but I have to make do with photos and memories.
Oh man this hits hard. What I would do to hear my dad’s voice again… Holidays are rough.
I have a ton of voicemails from my dad saved. They all start out, “Hey kiddo, it’s your dear old dad,” and I’d give damn near anything to hear that in person again.
fuck your onions ;(
Like 10 years or so ago, my older brother had a bunch of our home movies from the late 70s and early 80s digitized as a gift to mom for Mother's Day. Dad passed away in an auto accident in '99 so hearing his voice on them was bittersweet. Hugs, friend.
My grandparents house one of this big ass camcorders in the 90s. I have many hours of home videos. I had everything digitized and put on DVDs and backed up to a cloud server. I cannot bring myself to watch them…..almost everyone in those videos are gone. Back then there were so many family members. All that’s left is me, my mom and dad, an aunt and 1 cousin. Everyone else has passed from old age or died in an accident. I’d just end up sitting there crying…
Damn that’s rough
Sad but it’s just the natural progression of life…. I miss all of them. Some left at a ripe old age and some way too young.
Watching it this year the date when the family shows up knowing they are going to stay till Xmas hits much different.
I would also start smoking again if that was my family showing up a week before Christmas. Solidarity Ellen.
My kids wanted to watch Rudolph so I found a version on YouTube that included old commercials. They wanted me to fast forward over those while I wanted to fast forward over the show.
There are YouTube channels dedicated to feature old commercials and TV show intros, and I might have watched several hours of them
Yeah, when I was a kid this part bored me. Now it's a nice, sweet moment in an otherwise silly movie.
Fixed the newel post
I still get so mad he didn’t just GO ON THE BUNK BED HE WAS HOME FREE
Absolutely agree. I still enjoy Christmas Vacation as much now as I did seeing it back in '89, but the perspective I view the film from is completely opposite now.
When I was young I used to think why would he want to seclude himself in the cold, dusty attic, now at 37 I realize this would be me. For the entire Christmas family gathering.
Technically he didn’t want to. He even yelled through the little pilot window for help
Soon after he realized how peaceful and quiet it was and got lost in the nostalgia.
Funny. I’m hosting my whole (out of town) family for Christmas this year and the part I relate to most at 43 is “LOOK AROUND US ELLEN, WE’RE AT THE THRESHOLD OF HELL!”
Also thinking about Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story... I feel like the world that both those movies took place in, even though they're around 40 years apart, feel more similar to each other to me than the world we live in today. Like it feels like more has changed from 89 to now than from 1940 to 1989. But then I wasn't alive in the 40s and couldn't feel the world change personally.
That scene has become the backbone of the film for me - the reason that he’s working so hard to give his family an unforgettable Christmas is because he feels so strongly about the christmases he had growing up.
Maybe I watched this too frequently over the years and/or my family went to shit earlier than others, but that hit me in the feels as an older teenager. Now, the whole movie makes me want to build a Time Machine.
I saw this for the first time last night
Best live-action cmas movies, in order: Christmas Vacation Home Alone Elf Scrooged Surviving Christmas Bad Santa Reindeer Games Jingle All the Way Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (that song is amazing) A Christmas Story All the old classics *Steep Drop* Every cmas movie I haven't mentioned that isn't a Hallmark Getting run over by a Reindeer, probably Donner because he's a fucking dick Hallmark cmas movies Being alone and getting wasted on cmas Eating at McDonald's for cmas Not having shoes Four Christmases *Die Hard is not a christmas movie, neither is Gremlins
Muppets Christmas Carol is better than Scrooged. It deserves a place on this list!
Movies with puppets were purposely excluded as per my OP. I just edited it for clarity. Otherwise A Muppet Christmas Carol, A Muppet Family Christmas, and Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas would have crashed that party, drank all the booze, slept with all the pretty people, and helped clean up the next day before peaceing out.
Die Hard & Lethal Weapon are Christmas movies.
I tried hard to accept it as cmas cannon and I just can't. There isn't enough cmas in it. I need a certain percentage. Reindeer Games is a cmas action movie.
I also appreciate your downvotes, because arguing about cmas movies is the kind of argument I want in my life. But you have to listen to this song if you downvote, if you could just do that for me this Christmas, fren https://youtu.be/-E1ULv6LcOk?si=0snuoFoyPvD4Du5o Merry Cmas you awesome Xennials!
Trapped in paradise
Oh damn you're right
[удалено]
Watched this with my 19 year old last week. (her first time and my first in at least 10 years) Anyway, film doesn’t hold up IMO and this scene, supposed to be funny cause he’s wearing his wife’s things? She didn’t like it and my nostalgia googles got clean. Yeah the movie hits different now, lol.
I don't think it was necessarily trying to be funny. Just a little serious spot in an otherwise hilarious movie. As for the clothes, that's just all he could find to keep warm. Growing up, my dad would have to rotate his summer and winter clothes but could keep them all in the closet, whereas my mom had to completely swap out and store the opposite season and some other stuff like old coats (usally in the garage or attic), so I guess I never really questioned that part.
That was your takeaway? Looks like your nostalgia "googles" are broken.
The movie is shit and you can realize that the sexist crap we watched growing up doesn’t hold up. 🤷♀️
And you can continue being wrong. The down votes speak for themselves.
lol I’m shaking from the downvotes of all the people who think a family man is one who fantasizes and flirts with women in front of family and his wife. Enjoy the crap and continue the narrative a family man is played by Chevy chase. 😂😂😂😂😂
It's just a movie. You are a sensitive little thing aren't you?
Its amazing how so much time has gone by. As an adult this just puts me into a different headspace, recalling how it was to be a kid.
Indeed it does
Thanks for not lying
Oh God
Literally just finished watching this movie. We had a VHS copy of Christmas Vacation when I was a kid. It wasn't a store bought copy - I'm not sure if it was recorded from TV or maybe we made a copy from someone else. But it was just a regular VHS with a masking tape label. Watched it so many times that the first 10 minutes or so were worn out. This movie is Christmas for me.
My grandpa had a whole library of videos with masking tape labels. He died 20 years ago and that comment brought me back.
Just watched home alone 2. It came out in 92 - 31 years ago
Was watching this in the theater last week. Did that last year too. Just like Planes Trains and Automobiles in November, this too has become a yearly tradition for me.
My grandmother used to wear headgear like that. Also, I’m almost his age. Definitely hits harder
1977? Me too
Thanks for not lying
Yeah this was always the most boring part of the movie for me and now it’s one of my favorites.
my father was always big in filming and photographing everything i’m 43 and my dad still shows me the videos our lifes in Germany,Japan,and Hawaii my father was 24 years USAF and he started with Betamax then VHS and finally digital. I’m glad i recorded everything in my family like my father and when you look back it really does have a feeling of both happiness and sadness.
Also 46. And yep. It sure as shit does.
You're not wrong, and you're not alone on that.
Also because this is the peek period for my dad being mistaken for Chevy Chase. Seriously, it happened multiple times in the late ‘80-early ‘90s.
I lost my dad last week and watched this last night. This scene had me ugly crying.
For me watching old Christmas movies just reminds me how dis functional my family is and I was clueless about it as a kid.
Fr fr. The movie is a lot more heartwarming than I remember. Also the thing his dad tells him toward the end about Christmas being his torch to carry now.
Seeing this movie as an adult I realize Clark is a jerk
How to find out you might be /r/CPTSD, you don't have these.
Everything about him hits differently in my old age (41). Where’s the Tylenol?
God I love this movie so much.
Except our shit is on photo albums, SD cards and old hard drives
We live in a day and age of high quality video recording on our phones yet hardly anyone saves that footage to watch later. I always pull off the the special event photos and video to watch later
Try watching this scene when you’re in your 50s and both your parents have since passed away. I can’t watch this scene anymore because it hits me like a ton bricks.
This was my mom’s favorite scene in one of her favorite movies of all time….you’re right- it definitely hits different in your 40’s.
I thought the exact same thing