Classic holiday movies are misleading: What is a “normal home” supposed to look like?
- Ryan Fiero, Principal Broker & CEO
- 7 minutes ago
- 4 min read
When you think of the holidays, what comes to mind?
For me, and a great deal of others, it is a steady stream of snow covered movies on repeat. Some of my family’s personal favorites are Christmas with the Cranks, A Christmas Carol, It’s a Wonderful Life, Elf, Home Alone (1 & 2), and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. If you haven’t seen them all, you officially have seven days until Christmas to catch up!!!
In each of these films, we meet magical characters who overcome hardships, learn to love themselves and their families a little more, and rediscover the true meaning of the season… oh, and they just happen to live in homes of absolute luxury.
As a real estate broker, one thing keeps coming to mind every year. Despite all the emotional, and sometimes financial, struggles portrayed on screen, the homes these characters live in are often, let’s just say, unrealistically grand. I would be absolutely thrilled to help any client buy or sell any one of the homes featured in these movies. In most of them, the holiday décor looks like it was pulled straight from a magazine where a “perfect home” exists at every turn.
So let’s dive into the unrealistic expectations of homeownership, because perfect usually does not exist.
A Christmas Carol
Take Ebenezer Scrooge. Though portrayed as a lonely, frugal man living in a dark and sparsely decorated home haunted by the literal ghosts of his past, Scrooge still owns a lucrative business and resides in what would have been considered a sizable and valuable property, even by today’s standards.
In all 1,423 versions of this movie (okay, maybe a slight exaggeration, but seriously, how many times can they recreate the same story?), there is always a grand staircase to die for. And those windows he throws open on Christmas morning to shout at the boy about buying a goose? Take a closer look next time. Absolutely stunning architecture.
Elf
Now let’s talk Elf. Buddy’s father lives in Manhattan in a spacious high rise condo that would easily qualify as a multi million dollar property today.
Large windows, prime location, generous square footage, and enough room to host holiday chaos. This is not your average New York City apartment. While Buddy is discovering himself and spreading Christmas cheer, the real estate quietly flexes in the background. For most New Yorkers, and honestly most Americans, this level of space and location is well beyond reach, but the movie makes it feel totally normal.
How The Grinch Stole Christmas
If this suddenly sounds like it rhymes, please know it is not an accident,
Whoville has that effect, festive and extravagant.
With tinsel on rooftops and bows on each door,
Every Who home whispers, then shouts, we can decorate more!
Alright, enough rhyming. I promise this is still a real estate article.
Then there is Martha May Whovier. While Whoville is fictional, it represents a hyper idealized version of holiday living. Martha is obsessed with having the best decorations, and her home, like those of her neighbors, is brightly colored, perfectly styled, and overflowing with festive excess.
Every Who seems to live in a spacious home within a bubble of holiday perfection. One could even argue that the Grinch himself, living alone atop a mountain in a massive cave with panoramic views, occupies a rather impressive piece of real estate.
Home Alone (1&2)
Of course, we cannot forget Home Alone.
In the first movie, the McCallister home, which normally houses two parents and five children and during the holidays an influx of extended family, is enormous. From the grand staircase at the entrance to the attic where Kevin camps out, the home boasts multiple entertaining spaces, an antique fireplace, and enough room for five bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms. It is charming, iconic, and wildly unattainable for the average family.
Then comes Home Alone 2, where the New York brownstone renovations alone would place that property firmly in the top… sometime like… zero point zero five percent of homes in the country. No big deal. Totally relatable.
Christmas With The Cranks
A personal favorite, Christmas with the Cranks. The neighborhood is picture perfect. Large homes that border on mansion status, pristine lawns, and coordinated décor (don’t forget the snowman). Everything is manicured to perfection, as if the homeowners association personally moonlights as Santa’s design team. It is the kind of neighborhood where perfection is expected and anything less is practically a crime against Christmas.
It's a Wonderful Life
And then there is It’s a Wonderful Life. The old house George and Mary throw stones at as kids, the one they eventually move into, is absolutely stunning. Spacious, charming, full of character, and bursting with potential.
What the movie does not show are the years of sweat, sacrifice, financial stress, and relentless dedication it took to make that home livable. The leaks, the repairs, the compromises, and the moments of doubt. Hollywood makes it look effortless, but in real life, getting there is anything but easy.
The Message
Love where you live. Live where you love.
It is okay if you are not in your forever home. It is okay if your house is not fully decked out for Christmas, even if you adore the season. Movies forget to show the hard work, dedication, and sometimes pure luck it takes to achieve those picture perfect homes in the first place.
The ideal we see on screen is not the norm. It is something to aspire to, not measure ourselves against. So the next time you watch a holiday movie and feel that quiet pressure to live up to an unattainable standard of what a home is supposed to look like, think twice.
Home is where your heart is. Where your people are. That is something no listing can capture, and no one can sell, no matter how hard we try. Ultimately, a home is wherever you have created a space that feels comfortable and meaningful. It does not need to be grand, flawless, or movie worthy to matter or to bring people together.
And of course the plug, whether you are looking to rent, buy, or sell, Urban District Realty, LLC is here to help you find a space that feels like home, whatever that may look like!