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About This Quiz
"Worse?! How could things get any worse?" When it comes to the holidays with family, everyone is thinking that things are going off without a hitch. Unfortunately, this isn't the case for the Griswold family!
The film franchise came to life based off of the stories featured in the magazine, National Lampoon. Starting with a little-known made-for-TV film in 1978, the film series blossomed with their second 1978 film, National Lampoon's Animal House. After this success, the franchise moved on to the Griswold family, whose vacations never seem to go as planned.
With the release of the original company's final blockbuster hit in 1989, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation ended the series with a literal "bang"! The crazy antics of the family didn't go unnoticed! What was happening when Clark dressed up as the serial killer Jason? Can you pick out when Clark got stuck on the roof? What about when the hunt for a wild animal was on in the Griswold house? If you can remember these scenes, you're ready!
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation might've left the Griswold family feeling like they needed another one. Unlike 93% of people, here's hoping this quiz is like an actual vacation for you - breezy and with smooth sailing!
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What happens in this scene?
The roots are too stubborn to come off
Clark ends up hurting himself
Clark saws off the roots of the tree, but not before being confronted by their uptight neighbors.
This looks like the middle of a horror movie, but I promise it's not! Clark is attempting to saw off the root end of the Christmas tree the family brought home. Before he can complete his task, he gets confronted by his neighbors and politely tells them where he plans to put said tree after prepping it.
Clark gets out a chainsaw and turns on his family
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What happens in this scene?
Cousin Eddie and Cousin Catherine show up for a surprise visit
Clark is celebrating the lights turning on with the whole family and then he stumbles upon his cousins, Eddie and Catherine. He is clearly taken aback that they are there, as he had no idea they were coming to be a part of the holiday.
The cousins stop by to say hi
The cousins come to terrorize the family
The cousins are kicked out of their celebration
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What happens in this scene?
The attic is a special family location
Clark tries to escape through the attic
Clark attempts to hide his wife's Christmas present in the attic and gets locked in there by his mother-in-law
Clark sneaks out of the bedroom with a bag of something secret; he clearly doesn't want any of the family members to hear or see him. He pulls the hatch down for the attic and the ladder comes barreling out, hitting him right in the face.
The attic door won't stay shut
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What happens in this scene?
The sewer glows from the festering septic tank liquid Cousin Eddie put in there
Indeed the yard is a sight to behold, but not for a good reason. The sewer glows from the septic tank waste Cousin Eddie put in it. The yard is starting to take on all kinds of toxic looks.
Santa casts a green glow
The yard is filled with slippery oil
They dye the lawn green for Christmas
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What happens in this scene?
Clark is checking for cops
Clark imagines the brand-new swimming pool that he plans to buy with his holiday bonus
Clark has a wild imagination. He begins with an innocent fantasy about his family playing around in the pool. It leads to a daydream about Mary, the beautiful sales clerk, skinny-dipping alone in the pool.
Clark is imaging the neighborhood all lit up
Clark is reminiscing about the past
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What happens in this scene?
Eddie is taking out the trash
Eddie is relieving himself outside while drinking a beer
Eddie is emptying his RV septic tank into the street drain
Good old Cousin Eddie knows no boundaries. Eddie empties out his RV's septic tank into the rainwater drain, not thinking of the consequences it could cause. Clark comments that it is incredibly dangerous, not to mention illegal, to do so.
Eddie is trying to bring all his presents inside
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What happens in this scene?
The parents get caught plotting
The two families are actually getting along
The parents arrive for Christmas festivities!
Zoom in on the front door and all you can hear is arguing and screaming outside on the porch. Clark opens the door to both families arguing about God knows what, and he wishes them all a merry Christmas.
The two mothers are confused
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What happens in this scene?
The turkey explodes from being so dry when Clark tries to carve it
Cousin Catherine starts to cry when she sees the turkey she made is so dry there is nothing left in the middle to eat. It is so dry it is exploding with gas. Eddie doesn't understand why she is crying.
The turkey gets eaten before everyone gets some
There is dynamite in the turkey
The turkey is a prank
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What happens in this scene?
The family goes on a midnight mission
Clark explains the dangers of oil
Clark takes the family to the circle
Clark puts his non-caloric silicon-based kitchen lubricant invention to the test on his sled
Clark explains how his new lubricant is 500 times more slippery than regular cooking oil and boy is he right! Clark ends up sledding so far down the hill that he travels through a cabin and into a cement parking lot.
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What happens in this scene?
Clark finally receives his so-called bonus in the mail
Clark is furious when he finds out his bonus is a year's subscription to the Jelly of the Month Club instead of a large check for all the hard work he did over the year.
Clark gets a large bonus from his boss in the mail
Clark gets an eviction notice
Clark gets a letter from the beautiful clerk
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What happens in this scene?
Clark brings the tree in and cuts the ties, only to realize the tree is way to large for their living room
One little trim and the tree falls, smashing through their living room window. Clark still maintains that the tree is perfect. Later, in bed, Clark's hands are so coated in sap he can't even look through a magazine without ripping all of the pages out.
The Griswolds decorate the tree right away
The Griswolds use the extra branches to make a fire
Clark gives up on the tree
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What happens in this scene?
Clarks asks the woman for advice on presents for his kids
Clark goes Christmas shopping for his wife and gets help from a beautiful sales clerk.
Clark sees a beautiful store clerk and proceeds to fumble over his words, making multiple accidental references to the woman's breasts. He can't manage to carry on a normal conversation with the woman at all. Luckily, she doesn't really seem to notice.
Clark compliments the woman's blouse
Clark tries to buy whatever she is selling
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What happens in this scene?
The two neighbors are thrilled
They talk about coming over for Christmas
The neighbors are uninterested
The nosey neighbors watch Clark put up Christmas lights and wish he would fall and break his neck
The neighbors look on as Clark sets the ladder up to begin putting on the lights. They clearly do not like him. One says to the other that they hope he falls and breaks his neck. They both agree that they'll probably not be lucky enough to see him break his neck.
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What happens in this scene?
Clark loses it when he finds out everyone is trying to leave
Clark had his heart set on the perfect family Christmas. The whole family tries to leave because so many things have gone wrong and they don't want to be a part of the mess anymore.
Clark decides to take the family away
Clark decides to leave the family behind
Clark ignores the family
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What happens in this scene?
Still attempting to get all the lights up, Clark falls and grabs onto the gutter, hoping it will hold his weight
As you can imagine, the gutter rips off and causes a large chunk of ice to go flying in the air. The ice goes through the neighbors' window, ruining their expensive CD player.
Clark leaves the lights only half on
Clark abandons the ladder
Clark falls and hurts himself on the ice
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What happens in this scene?
Bethany's cat knocks over the tree
Bethany's cat breaks the cord on purpose
Bethany's cat finds a mouse
Kitty's night ends abruptly when she is scorched from the Christmas tree lights
You know the saying, "curiosity killed the cat?" Well... in this case, it hits a little too close to home. Aunt Bethany's cat is scorched from nibbling on the Christmas tree lights while Clark tries to plug them back into the outlet.
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What happens in this scene?
Clark rips his sleeve off
Clark accidentally staples his sleeve to the roof instead of the strand of lights
Clark accidentally nails his sleeve to the lights and rips his sleeve off trying to detach it. His ladder almost completely falls but he manages to get caught by a tree behind him.
Clark gets hot and tries to remove his gloves
Clark calls to Ellen for help
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What happens in this scene?
The police are called to the Griswold residence by Frank Shirley's wife after he is kidnapped
Having figured out who they think kidnapped Clark's boss, the cops swoop in, in a frenzy to arrest the man responsible and rescue the one abducted. They must think it is very serious because there is no shortage of officers on the scene!
The cops come to join the party
The cops arrest the neighbors
The cops come to assist in the abduction
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What happens in this scene?
Clark takes the chainsaw into the attic
Clark starts making repairs to the Christmas lights
Clark "fixes" the wiggling post by cutting it off with a saw
Clark goes a little overboard with the chainsaw and tries to fix the wooden post on the staircase. I'm pretty sure that isn't the usual way you fix a wiggling post, but who knows. As if his Santa outfit makes it seem any less crazy.
Clark is still fuming and uses the saw to express himself
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What happens in this scene?
Clark successfully hides the presents
Clark injures himself with plywood
By now, we can all guess how graceful Clark can be. Not only did he hit his head multiple times with plywood, he also managed to fall through the attic floor onto his son's bunk bed.
Clark hides from the family
Clark heads out to make breakfast
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What happens in this scene?
Clark must swerve off the road in order to avoid hitting a snow plowing machine.
Once Clark realizes they are stuck in the empty space under the log semi, he tries to swerve to escape and ends up head to head with a snow plow. The only way to avoid that collision is to drive the car over the snow embankment, right into the Christmas tree sign.
Clark narrowly escapes a terrible crash.
Clark and the family get run over by the semi.
Clark gets pulled over.
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What happens in this scene?
Clark manages to pull the tree with its roots and take it home.
The Griswolds walk all the way through the forest and find the perfect tree, only to realize that Clark forgot a saw. Clark ends up pulling the tree out of the ground with its roots to take it home.
They have to leave, treeless.
They chain the tree to the car and pull it out.
Clark huddles with the family in the branches to get warm.
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What happens in this scene?
Clark gets more aggressive with his driving.
The car breaks down.
Clark asks the kids about the first White House Tree.
Clarks driving gets more out of hand when he tries to pass a truck, and passes under the semi.
Clark tells Ellen to take it easy and leave the driving to him. Then his driving starts to get more out of hand when he decides to try and pass the semi.
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What happens in this scene?
Margo sprays eggnog in her husband's face
Margo goes to the Griswolds' house, only to get attacked by the squirrel and Eddie's dog, and then she punches her husband
Margo is pissed that her husband isn't man enough to put an end to all of the madness happening next door. She gets totally overwhelmed and decides she has had enough drama for one holiday. She punches her husband in the face for letting her go to the Griswolds' house alone.
Margo slams a present into his chest
Margo screams in her husband's face
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What happens in this scene?
The old man falls asleep standing up
Uncle Lewis tries to smoke the tree
Uncle Lewis lights his cigar and accidently lights the tree on fire along with it
As if things couldn't get worse, now the Christmas tree is up in flames. Talk about a dysfunctional family gathering! Before Clark finds out, the whole family is exclaiming that they didn't really like that Christmas tree anyway. Good riddance, they all say.
The old man lights up and causes a huge fire
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What happens in this scene?
Clark forgives his father
Clark gets a bonus from his father
Clark and his father have a heart-to-heart about his holiday efforts
Clark tells his dad that he has no idea how he gets through the holidays with them being the mess that they always are. His father tells him that "Jack Daniels" helped him out all those years.
Clark and his father hug but then fight
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What happens in this scene?
Clark is confronted by his cold boss for a report on his new invention, a non-caloric silicon-based kitchen lubricant
Clark's boss asks him to create a write-up on a non-nutritive cereal brand and asks him to write it in laymen's terms, Clark agrees, with pleasure. Then he thanks the boss for the Christmas card that he and the family received a few days earlier.
Clark's boss tells him about an incident
Clark's boss demands he finish a project asap
Clark's boss asks him to join his posse
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What happens in this scene?
Clark smells something funky
Aunt Bethany notices a small squeaking sound in the living room
Clark goes to check out the sound and hears something coming from the tree. Out jumps a crazed squirrel, ready to pounce on the family. Everyone runs up the stairs to avoid the little critter.
Clark starts to remove the decorations
Clark is trimming the new tree
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What happens in this scene?
The dog Snot whines from the garage
The dog Snot eats the squirrel
Cousin Eddie's dog, Snot, joins the hunt for the squirrel
Everyone is after the crazed squirrel, and we mean everyone... Cousin Eddie's dog hears the commotion and joins the fun by chasing the squirrel all around the house. He destroys everything in his path along the way.
Snot the dog sneaks off up the stairs
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What happens in this scene?
Clark goes out to cut another tree down from the backyard
Clark makes open threats to the neighbors
Clark tries to saw his boss down
Clack is so furious that nothing is going his way, he decides to chop down the tree in his front yard to replace the burnt one
Clark is furious about his lack of a bonus and really wants to see his rich boss pay for the b***s*** gift he received. He is in such a fury that he starts up the chainsaw and is fuming in the driveway when his son attempts to calm him down.
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What happens in this scene?
The Griswolds give up on the tree.
The Griswold family treks through miles of cold snow to find the perfect Christmas tree.
The Griswold family treks through miles of cold snow to find the perfect Christmas tree. They get to the tree, only to realize that Clark forgot his chainsaw at home. He has to act fast and come up with a strategy to bring the tree home.
The Griswolds opt for a fake store-bought tree instead.
The Griswold family spends the entire day on the side of the road.
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What happens in this scene?
The old man talks about the true meaning of Christmas
We see an actual Christmas miracle
The old man tries to stop the police
The movie ends with one last bang, sending a pile of s**t flying in the air
There is a massive explosion as the old man goes to light his cigar and drops a match in the sewer that was full of the septic waste Cousin Eddie dumped in earlier. Everyone breaks into song, because nothing will allow them to not enjoy the moment.
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What happens in this scene?
Aunt Bethany tries to steal presents
Aunt Bethany gives the family her cat
Aunt Bethany is confused
Aunt Bethany accidently wraps her cat as a present to the family
Aunt Bethany is getting older and her memory is not quite what it used to be. Not only does she wrap up her cat as a gift, she also wraps up her dirty jello mold.
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What happens in this scene?
Clark meditates on his plans for the holiday
Clark decides to crossdress
Clark grabs all the warm clothes in the attic and accepts his fate
Clark finds himself locked in the attic most of the day. Freezing, he only finds old women's clothing to put on. He tries to make the best of his situation by watching old family movies and getting a tad emotional.
Clark cries for Christmas lost
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What happens in this scene?
Clark refuses to budge on the Christmas plan
They decide to separate
The family tree is very fresh, leaving sap all over Clark and causing him to stick to everything
Ellen reminds Clark that he sets events up with expectations that no one can ever live up to. She says, "parties, weddings, anniversaries, funerals, holidays..." and all the while his hand gets stuck to her hair and to the bedside lamp.
Clark agrees to change the Christmas plan
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What happens in this scene?
The neighbors talk about getting a Christmas tree while eating dinner
Margo and Todd Chester mull over the idea of getting a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. Todd asks Margo where they will find a tree the day before Christmas. To their surprise, one pops into their dining room, breaking through the window.
The neighbors plot against the Griswolds
The neighbors think about inviting people over
The neighbors talk about hating Christmas
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What happens in this scene?
Clark opts for pretend lights
Clark finally figures out the lights!
Grandma Griswold unknowingly finds the secret to turning on the Christmas lights
Turns out the breaker just wasn't turned on properly, so someone goes in the garage and flips the switch, and the lights turn on! They are so bright they drown the neighbors in light from next door.
The lights only come on briefly
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What happens in this scene?
The family anxiously awaits the lighting of the house
The family gathers for a moment of silence
The family tries to help solve the light problem
The Griswold family stands outside, wondering why the 25,000 lights are not working
The family drum rolls and Clark tries to connect all 25,000 lights, only to find out that the connection isn't working. His mom laughs and exclaims, "Talk about pissing your money away."
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What happens in this scene?
Cousin Eddie finds a stray dog
Cousin Eddie smashes the RV into the house
Cousin Eddie wraps up Clark's boss like a present
Cousin Eddie kidnaps Clark's boss
Cousin Eddie takes Clark seriously about kidnapping the boss and goes ahead and does so. He is wrapped in a ribbon and has a dog chained to his wrists and ankles. His boss's wife is anxiously looking for her husband.
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You Got:
/39
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