Becoming Clark Griswold is holiday magic for ‘Christmas Vacation’ superfan

For many, “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” is a must-watch seasonal classic.

But for Ted Ray, the 1989 comedy about an extended family’s disastrous attempt to celebrate the holiday is an all-consuming passion, if not a downright obsession.

His homage to Clark Griswold, the movie’s hapless hero, starts with more than 5,000 white lights Ray drapes over his McHenry, Ill., home.

In that effort, Ray is no stranger to Griswoldian mishaps.

“I was using so much power that I lit my garage on fire the first year I did it,” said Ray, an HVAC technician, who at 33 is two years younger than the movie.

His enthusiasm for “Christmas Vacation” goes much further.

In the driveway of Ray’s home is a 1990 Ford Taurus wagon with a rear-facing row of seats that he bought for $300 through Facebook Marketplace prior to last year’s Christmas season. He figured it was a reasonable facsimile of the Griswold family vehicle but knew it needed an added touch.

In the movie, Clark Griswold drives his family out to the country in a similar wagon to find a Christmas tree. Chevy Chase’s character settles on a massive tree but, having forgotten a saw, the Griswolds are next seen driving home with an uprooted tree affixed to the roof of their wagon.

This year, like last, Ray managed to procure a tree with intact roots from a nearby family farm.

With the tree tied to his wagon’s roof, Ray took the wagon to go Christmas shopping and visit family members. He drove it to a drive-in theater for a showing of “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” and participated in holiday parades.

Ray planned to head to Kenosha, Wisconsin, for a Griswold festival.

This year’s tree is much larger than last year’s, and Ray had to trim it so he could see better out of the driver’s seat, he said. Nonetheless, both years he said he’s been pulled over several times by police. But the officers who stop him usually want to take pictures of the wagon and issue a verbal warning that driving with such a large tree on top of it is a distraction, he said.

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“It doesn’t go very fast,” Ray said of his Taurus. “Well, it’s because there’s a 500-pound tree on the top of the car.”

Ray said he was 5 or 6 when he first saw the movie.

“I just remember the lights, when he was out there (fidgeting) with the lights. That was it,” Ray said. “I saw all the lights on his house, and I was like, ‘One day, I’m going to do that.’ And again, it’s just a fricking funny movie. I love it.”

As a kid, Ray would do much of the decorating on the outside of his parents’ home. His father wouldn't let him put as many lights as he does with his own house because of worries the electric bill would go through the roof.

Now a father of three, including a 2-year-old named Audrey and 4-month-old Russell — yes, just like the Griswold kids — Ray can relate to aspects of the film beyond the comedy.

“It’s a man who loves his family, and he’s just trying to do everything he can to make his family happy,” Ray said. “I’m all about that. I love my family. I love making people happy. And sure, he tried doing it, and there were mishaps all along the way — many, many bad mishaps. It was terrible. But he figured it out, and he made it work.”

Ray said he watches “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” a couple of times in the summer and 20 or 30 times during the Christmas season. While his wife doesn’t love the movie as much as him, she loves their light display, Ray said.

The couple’s neighbors — unlike Todd and Margo, the Griswold’s antagonists — are also on board. One neighbor cheers on Ray while he sets up and calls him Clark Griswold. During the four years his house has been the brightest on the block, “as far as I know, I don’t have any complaints,” Ray said.

Last year, when Ray only had about 4,500 lights, he began setting them up on the day after Halloween and finished up in about two and a half weeks. This year, he started setting up “very late” because he was busy caring for Russell and his twin sister, Addison, he said.

According to estimates from ComEd, if Griswold set up his incandescent lights in 2022 and kept them on for five hours every day during December, his electric bill for the lights alone would have been nearly $7,500.

Ray, who is planning to power his 5,225 LED lights from 4:30 to 10:30 p.m. all month long, expects his December electric bill to be just $180, he said. LED lights use about 80% less electricity than traditional incandescent ones.

He doesn’t mind when people come up to him when he’s out and about wanting to take pictures of the car. It doesn’t bother him when people driving by his home stop and take photos.

“Part of why I do this is because I want people to take photos and have a good time,” Ray said.

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