1. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
The Setup: Clark Griswald, not having learned his lesson from the previous vacation-related disasters that befell his family's trips to Walley World and Europe, decides to have the entire Griswald clan over for the holidays in the hopes that he can recreate the idyllic Christmases of his youth.
What Goes Wrong: About everything that can go wrong does, making Christmas Vacation the ultimate holiday disaster movie. King of Christmas mayhem, Home Alone scribe John Hughes, makes another appearance on our list, writing the third installment in the Vacation series. Hughes puts Clark through the ringer and illustrates how ever aspect of Christmas can go spectacularly wrong; Clark takes his family to chop down their own mammoth Christmas tree only to forget to bring an axe, his deranged hillbilly in-law (Randy Quaid) arrives unannounced with his whole clan in tow, Clark's boss gives him year long subscription to the jelly of the month club instead of the Christmas bonus Clark desperately needs. After a kidnapping gone bad brings a S.W.A.T team crashing into house, an unhinged Clark sees the Christmas star shining in the sky and remembers the true meaning of the holiday right before the chemical toilet his cousin-in-law emptied into the streets gets ignited in a huge explosion that sends his decorative Santa Claus sleigh flying through the sky.
The Moral of the Story: Clark learns that even though Christmas may never be as good as it was when you were a kid, you can still try to make it most wonderful time of the year. What other notable cinematic Christmas disasters should have been included in our list? Let us know in the comments below.