Home Alone has earned its place as an American classic in the canon of A Christmas Story, Elf—and dare I go so far—It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol. Both timeless and timely, the film goes way beyond the cartoonish antics of the Wet Bandits and the wily Kevin McCallister left to fend for himself and triumph as the most observant of the McCallister clan.

Home Alone drills down to a trifecta of uniquely American virtues worth revisiting each year. It chronicles the humility of being wrong in order to make things right, the wisdom to listen to the smallest and marginalized among us, and the generosity to help the stranded stranger, even the South Bend Shovel Slayer.

Take........

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