"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" - Brenda Lee
Every year when I was a kid,
Everybody in the neighborhood came.
Dad played the "big cheese"...
Mom played "Donna Reed".
And a really stupid time was had by all.
It was a time when hopes were high.
It was fun, before fun got so...complicated.
Before life got so...
Voila!
Simple.
- What's this?
Oh...
By December of 1971. My family was afloat in the conveniences of modern life.
Whether we liked it or not.
Hey, Mom? What happened to, ya know, like...dinner?
Oh, well, with classes today...I didn't get home in time to cook.
So I stopped by the market to pick these up.
Why? Is anything wrong?
No.
After all...Mom was goin' to college part-time, now.
She deserved our support.
As for Dad...
So how was work today, honey?
Lousy.
Well, Dad was Dad.
Jack - you think you could help me with the party invitations this weekend?
Me?
Yeah, I have a mid-term on Monday - I've gotta study.
- Well...But, I gotta go to the off...
And I'm not sure that it's still working...
I'll take a look.
Mom? Dad?
You sure you want to have this...Christmas party this year?
Course, I was just an ignorant teen-ager.
But it seemed to me this was a bad time to be throwing a neighborhood bash.
Don't be silly, honey!
Why?
Well...Because we always have a party.
Isn't that right, Jack?
And there ya had it. Come yuletide or high-water, or Salisbury steak...
The annual Arnold Christmas shindig lived on.
Hurry up with those lights.
Not that I hated parties, you understand.
What I hated was...
Watch it, Kevin! Hah?
Helping out.
Those bulbs cost me thirty-two cents apiece!
Right, Dad.
Every year, for two weeks before the big night...
Dad roped us into something akin to indentured servitude.
Kinda like...elves.
Dad? Do I have to stand here?
No! You can go sweep off the driveway...
I don't want you guys to run out of ice Saturday night. Got that?
It was humiliating.
You know, uh, Dad...
I've been thinking, you know, maybe I...wouldn't come to the party this year.
Yeah, me too.
What do you mean not come to the party?
Well, I don't want to hang out with your friends. I've got my own life.
Me, too!
You know, I'm not a little kid anymore.
I could be a father.
Me, too!
But even iron-clad logic couldn't alter one unescapable fact.
The neighbors.
Heh-heh. Hey, Jack!
Sure am!
That was Ed Ermin. King of lawn-care.
The whole damn neighborhood's lookin' forward to this party, you know!
Wouldn't be the holidays without a night at the Arnold's!
- You bet!
Yeah. You bet.
So, Dad?
What!?
About the party? What do you say?
Make sure there's ice.
Well, think of it this way.
At least I could take solice in the firm knowledge no one else I knew had any great plans for the holidays.
Skiing! You're going skiing?!
Yeah. My parents are takin' me.
I don't believe this!
What about you? You want to do somethin' over the holidays?
Oh, I can't. Going to Montana.
Made you wonder whatever happened to the days when all people did on Christmas...
Was watch football and over-eat.
- Well...Seeya on the slopes.
My friends were deserting me.
It was clear if I was gonna survive this vacation, I needed -
- Winnie!
Will I see you at my parents' party Saturday night?
Oh...
Yeah. Good old Winnie.
Gee, Kevin, I'm afraid my parents already made plans.
They did?
OK - a temporary set-back.
Still, with the right sales-pitch...
You can come by yourself!
I mean, there's gonna be food, and...Twister...
It-it's gonna be a blast!
- I don't know...
What could possibly be more fun than that?
We're marching in a vigil to end the war in Viet Nam.
- Maybe after Christmas.
As the party got nearer, two things became obvious.
Shoulda kept the manual.
One...the old coffee-maker wasn't working.
And two...the elves were getting restless.
- Hand me the manger, idiot!
my parents threw a Christmas party.
When the neighborhood was young.
- Salisbury steak. See?
- We gotta get that coffee urn out of the garage.
So maybe you could check it for rust?
Of course were having the party!
And hose out those ice-buckets for spiders.
Gettin' ready for the big shindig?
Biggest wheel on the block.
- Ya-ha-ha. Seeya later, OK?!
It's gonna be great!
Getting my sister out of a commune!
- Yeah.
- Kevin, hi!
- Oh, Winnie...come on!
- Right.