Midway through November, DisneyPlus announced that they were adding the Home Alone films to their already wide collection of films. The 1990 family-favorite features Kevin McCallister, who has been accidentally left behind by his family when they leave for their Christmas vacation in Paris. During his solo-vacation, Kevin discovers that two burglars are planning to break into his house, and he has to resort to using several hilarious traps to fend them off. Since its release in 1990, it has been the go-to family Christmas movie for many households.
The movie begins with a McCallister family dinner the night before their flight, and after Kevin gets in a fight, he is sent to sleep in the attic for the night. After rushing to the airport and barely making their flight in time, the McCallister’s realize that they are one person short. Meanwhile, Kevin celebrates when he realizes that he has been left home alone. That is every eight-year-old kid’s dream, after all.
Kevin’s attitude starts to change, however, after he learns that there are two burglars targeting homes in his neighborhood, and that his home is next on the list. After he initially is able to fool the burglars into thinking that his entire family is home, they eventually catch on to the ruse and plan to rob the house anyway. Kevin, now realizing that he dearly misses his family after all, plans to defend the house from the two robbers. Using a complicated, and comical, system of traps and diversions, he is able to successfully keep the two burglars from stealing anything.
After he is involved in defending his home and getting the robbers arrested, Kevin is reunited with his family after they finally managed to get a flight back from Paris. Even though the family accidentally left Kevin immediately after a large argument that left no one happy, they returned and greeted him with warm hugs and happiness. The McCallister family is reunited, and they have learned an important lesson in not leaving anyone behind, which would surely not happen again.
While some people may say that Home Alone is not actually a Christmas film, there are others who make it a tradition to watch it every year. The central plot may not revolve around Christmas specifically, but there are certainly many references to Christmas, and the setting involves lots of snow, ice, and Christmas decorations, which definitely adds to the Christmas spirit.
Everyone has different Christmas traditions. Some people enjoy listening to Christmas music at all hours of the day, some people enjoy sitting down with their family to make gingerbread houses, and others like to sit down and watch feel-good Christmas movies about Santa Claus and elves. However, maybe this year more people will consider watching an eight-year-old kid outsmart two burglars by littering his house with traps, which just happens to be set during Christmas.
