Xmas or Bust: The Untold Story of 'National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation'

It started as a continuation of the misadventures of the Griswold family; it ended up becoming one of the most surprisingly popular and oft-quoted holiday movies of all time. This month marks the 25th anniversary of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, in which beleaguered patriarch Clark Griswold — played by the inimitable Chevy Chase — tries to engineer the picture-perfect seasonal festivities: the best naturally procured tree, the biggest and brightest (literally) Christmas-light display on the block, the end-of-the-year bonus from his Scrooge-like boss. It's the only comedy to appeal to those who live for that deck-the-halls spirit, viewers who are dyed-in-the-wool Grinches ("Well, I don't know what to say, except it's Christmas and we're all in misery") and folks who appreciate the genius of Randy Quaid in his underwear, exclaiming "Shitter's full!"

In honor of the film's quarter-of-a-century milestone, we've asked the cast and creators to weigh in on the seasonal classic. From the intricate planning behind the film’s zany antics to freak snowstorms and cast freak-outs, this is the untold, no-holds-barred story of Christmas Vacation.

True. Anthony Michael Hall and Juliett Lewis and Jane Krakowski have kept working over they years and have had successful careers.

I guess I'm thinking about how much the cast from the BBT makes and how huge a hit it is and in syndication. Heck when I went to the UK last year and turned on the TV in my hotel room, what was on? The Big Bang Theory.

oh, geez, lighten up. You really think Cousin Eddie was supposed to be a role model there? The point with the boss wasn't that all capitalists are bad. It was that the particular boss in question was being a jerk. Even Clark said to him "if you don't want to give Christmas bonuses that's fine but give us a warning so we aren't counting on it."

Many years ago my now ex-husband used to work for a commercial construction company and the owner waited until 6:00 PM on Christmas Eve (and yes, they made them work a full day on Christmas Eve, until 5:00 PM) and then made them attend an afterhours Christmas Eve “party” at the office that consisted mostly of soda and pretzels and chips and dip just to get handed their “Christmas bonus”. And if you weren’t present at the “party” to smile and grovel for the boss - no “bonus” for you!

Some years it was a generous hand written check for anywhere from $50 to, in some years several hundred dollars, but being that the banks were closed by then as were most of the stores, was not very helpful for actually using it for Christmas live alone making the employees get home late on Christmas Eve whatever the bonus was. And in some years the “bonus” was a frozen turkey (Yea! A rock solid frozen turkey that won’t thaw out until at least New Years). One year, the boss handed out Christmas cards with nothing at all in it except for his “sincere thanks” that was clearly written by his secretary. Of course we learned not to count on getting anything so anything we got was more than we expected. But the bonuses seemed to have little or nothing to do with how profitable the company was that year or on how well anyone performed. It was completely random and at the whim and mood of the owner so it was like playing a roulette reel of “how much or how little of a jerk is he going to be this year” game.

I'd never watched the BBT and didn't realize just what a huge show this was, but reading the full story and Chevy's comments that Galecki makes "$100 million a year" I googled him and figured it out.

I guess I'm behind the times.

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