Waterford family has authentic "Christmas Vacation" Christmas Eve -- dead squirrel and all



WATERFORD -- A Waterford family hosted their own version on "Christmas Vacation" on Christmas Eve Thursday, December 24th.

Clark, his wife Ellen and the whole Griswold gang were there.

The Wankowski family came up with the idea last year, when they were watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

They made the celebration as authentic as they could -- dead squirrel and all.

Everyone at the party dressed up like their favorite Christmas Vacation character.

They even chopped down a 15-foot Christmas tree for their living room!

"It's been a year in the making. We asked everyone to dress in character. We have our Griswold family Christmas tree that we went specially in the woods to get. Three hours up north and cut it down. Dragged it out of the woods," Dan Wankowski said.

As for next year's theme, the family says they'll see what they can come up with on Christmas Day.

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