The Griswold house was in the full 1989 Christmas swing, already decorated in snow but Clark was determined to cover every inch in lights, garland, and whatever else he could find in the garage. “Clark, maybe we shouldn’t pull out all the stops this year. I mean our parents will be here tomorrow and we should probably make sure the inside of the house is ready” Ellen Griswold suggested as her enthusiastic husband put on his winter boots. “Honey, Christmas only comes once a year. Why not go all out? I promise I’m gonna have this house glowing by the time everybody gets here” Clark assured with his usual headstrong attitude just as yelling from outside interrupted their conversation.

“What the hell is that?” Clark asked as he looked through the window. “The Barlow boys must be back home for the break” Ellen pointed out as she too looked out to see their pesky neighbors already setting off firecrackers in their backyard. “They couldn’t have just made them stay at college for Christmas?” “Oh, Clark you know Jenny and Bill wouldn’t do that. Jax and Donny may be a lot but they won’t be here for that long” Ellen tried to remind, getting a scoff of premature frustration from her husband before he started out the front door. The proud family man grabbed his ladder and the bundle of lights he planned to string across the roof of the house and climbed up until he had a better view of the layout.

“If I start over there I can work my way back up and then climb back down. Yeah…that’ll work” Clark smiled at his plan and reached for his staple gun only to come back empty handed. “Dammit, I forgot the stapler. Back down it is” the 44 yr. old concluded and started descending the ladder, too busy kicking himself for missing the stapler to realize the metal steps weren’t as dry as they were minutes earlier. “Woah! Wha! WOoAH!” Clark’s foot slipped and he tried to recover but fell backwards, sure he would break something when he hit the ground until he suddenly stopped about 4 feet shy.

He looked up to see the strand of lights wrapped around his ankle and the other end caught on part of the house, dangling him upside down. “Well at least I didn’t die…” Clark said to himself, relieved he’d been saved but his luck quickly ran out when he tried to free himself. He reached up toward his leg to grab the strand around his ankle but couldn’t make it, failing three times in a row to get loose. “How am I…so out of shape?” Clark questioned, now out of breath and seemingly out of ideas.

“Hey, look. Somebody is hanging from the Griswold’s house!” a nearby voice pulled Clark’s attention. “Maybe they got a bungee jump rigged up or something” a second voice answered, both of them a little deeper than he remembered but Clark knew exactly who it was. “Not those little brats…” Clark whined and struggled even harder to get loose but the Barlow brothers were soon in his front yard. “Good to see you boys…why don’t you ring the doorbell and get Mrs. Griswold for me?” “What happened?” Donny, the older brother asked. “Nothing, just a little holiday mishap. I just need one of you let my wife know so she can help me out” Clark pressed with a forced smile, trying to keep his cool. “So you’re stuck…” Jax pointed out. “It would seem so. Look, I appreciate you coming over here but really, we can handle it” “We can help you down, Mr. Griswold. We’re pretty strong” Donny offered as he started up the ladder and Jax tried tugging on Clark’s leg.

“Boys! Just go get help!” Clark stressed but couldn’t convince the brothers to abandon their new mission. “Maybe if you took your boot off, you could slip your foot out” Donny suggested as he began fiddling with the laces. “Just leave it on, Donny! Ellen - out here!!” Clark tried to call for help but his boot was soon off and he felt the cool air through his tube sock. “I think you’ve got a hole in your sock, Mr. Griswold” Donny announced with a humored grin as he wiggled one finger across the tiny opening. “NOoAOha! That’s ok, I’ll just throw them away” “What was that, Mr. Griswold?” Jax asked with his own curious smirk. “It was nothing! Really, just leave me alone! ELLEN!!” Clark shouted before he felt several more fingers spidering along his grey-socked foot.

“NoOOAohOh!! DdOOONNNyYySSTtOAAhaOoPP!!” “Oh, man, Mr. Griswold is ticklish!” Jax announced while watching Clark’s eyes light up with panic and thrash around in the air to get free. The younger college boy moved around behind Clark and pulled his vest down enough to wrap around his lower sides and start squeezing into the small love handles. “AAhHANnOOnNO!! IIMmTTEelLliiNNGGyYoOOUuRRPpPAAaRrRREeEEnNNTTSs!!” “I’d be too embarrassed to tell anybody if I were you” Jax added as he dug in deeper with a devious smile while easily avoiding Clark’s attempts to swing at him.

“I never knew you were so much fun, Mr. Griswold” Donny teased before using both hands to scribble all over the mostly cotton covered sole. “AAAHOAhaohAAIimMSSEErRIiOOUuUSS!! SSSTtToOPpIIiITTTnNOOoWW!!” Clark demanded but the Barlow boys were once again living up to their troublemaker reputations. Donny’s quick hands had Clark roaring from below harder than the middle-aged man had in years, reminding him how much he couldn’t stand being tickled. “Maybe you should just stay like this and be your own decoration; that’d be better than all those dumb lights and stupid Santa stuff you put out” Jax taunted and quickly pissed Clark off more but the 19 yr. old was too fast to catch.

“IImMmGGoOnNnAKKIilllyYoUuUUTTWwoOO!!” “Is that a threat, Mr. Griswold?” Jax challenged before shoving the vest and shirt down more and sinking into Clark’s stomach with vicious focus. “AAAoAHaAHANNOOnNOOOAOHAA!!” Clark raged higher as his belly shook in the winter air and Jax’s strong fingers wiggled in to see how crazy his neighbor could get. A sudden ripping sound struck new fear in Clark and he felt the sock being pulled apart to leave his size 11 foot totally bare. “NNoO! YyOOULiIITttllEESShHiiIT! LlLEeAAVVEEMMYYFEEEETAAlLOOONnEE!” Clark demanded with newfound urgency. “What about just one foot?” Donny teased before launching onto the upturned sole and dragging his nails up and down the length of his foot from heel to toes. “AAH!! AAAH!! HAHAHAhANnoOnNOOO!!” Clark erupted and bucked in the air like he’d lost his mind, clearly overwhelmed by the concentrated tickling, surprised after all this time his feet were still so sensitive.

“Woah, you’re gonna break your windows laughing like that, Mr. Griswold” Donny added as he ravaged the mature foot with steady strides across Clark’s rather soft sole. His long toes wiggled and tried to fend off Donny’s fingers but he just started tickling them too with isolated scratching along the creamy undersides. Jax soon took things another step further by grabbing Clark’s vest and shirt and forcing it all the way down so it was covering his face and the rest of his upper body was exposed. “HHEEYY! WwhhAATtAARREEyYOouUDODoIinnGG?!” “It’s the happiest time of year; you should laugh as much as possible, right?” Jax suggested before diving into his armpits from behind, burrowing into the hairy hollows with tight fingers of destruction.

“HHoOOOLLyYySSSHHiiiTT!! AHoANNONnOOHAOHAAGGEETToOoOFFF!! AHAHAHASSoOmMEebBOoODDyyHhEELLPpmMEEE!!” Clark shouted as he bucked around but Jax never stopped digging in and Donny refused to leave his foot alone, now zeroing in on the rosy balls and pale arch after realizing that’s what really got Clark going berserk. Funny enough it wasn’t like the Barlow brothers disliked Clark, they actually didn’t have anything against him at all but discovering he was ticklish after finding him so helpless was like catnip for Jax and Donny.

Donny soon got down and helped Jax start daggering up Clark’s sides, both of them even holding his arms with one hand to keep him from getting in the way. “AAOhAohYYOUubBOOyySsAAARREE IInNnRReEAALLTTRrRroOUBbLLEE!!” “Doesn’t really feel like it” Donny answered as they poked into his pits, ribs, sides, and stomach to keep him flailing around and cursing through the heavy laughter. Clark was on the verge of peeing his pants when headlights flashed on his house and the Barlow boys finally stopped tickling him, “We’re gonna get going, Mr. Griswold but this was fun!” Donny added. “We’ll catch ya again next year!” Jax assured as they hurried back to beat their Dad inside.

Clark hung their reeling from the surprise attack, more than happy it was over even if he was still stuck. But only about 30 seconds later he heard something crack from above and he hit the ground with a thud after the part of the house the lights had been stuck on gave way. “…you couldn’t have broken off TWO MINUTES AGO!?”