Home AloneHouse Owners Recall Finding Out Macaulay Culkin Cut Down a Real Tree from Their Backyard (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

In an era in which we increasingly have access to knowing how things work and how they’re made, there’s still some magic in movie sets.

The holiday classic was partially filmed in Winnetka, Ill. The Aberdshein family and their neighbors witnessed the film come to life and the techniques that made it possible.

“It’s just kind of a fun, positive experience that why not share it with others? That’s kind of how I feel about it, which is why I’m doing this interview. I like to share it,” John Aberdshein shares.

His daughter, Lauren, recalls a moment from the film’s premiere that’s stuck with her, in whichMacaulay Culkin’s Kevin starts decorating for Christmas.

“My parents were watching the movie during the premiere and there’s a scene where Kevin goes out into the backyard to cut himself a Christmas tree, so he cuts one in half. And my parents are sitting there and thinking, ‘Wow, they did a really good job filming that scene. It looks very realistic,’ " she says.

“Well it wasn’t a fake tree. They got home and looked in the backyard and saw, ‘Oh, they cut our actual tree in half.’ So the tree you see in the movie that Kevin cuts down was our actual tree.”

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Macaulay Culkin and Joe Pesci in ‘Home Alone’ in 1990.20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock

20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock

Neighbors Herb and Joanie, who lived directly across the street from the family, captured some of the movie making on home video, too.

“It just occurred to me to get the video out occasionally and film whatever was going on,” Herb shares in the documentary.

“Especially catch whatever was sort of the unexpected to be able to see firsthand how they actually put a movie together. In one scene where the mom [Catherine O’Hara] arrives home and it’s snowing, those are potato flakes,” Herb says. “Off to the side, where you don’t see them, there are two big fans and two big burly guys with bags of potato flakes shaking them into the fan. They go down and go out and it looks like snow.”

John jokes, “That all looked fine for the movie, but those potato flakes sat on the ground, turned yellow, and started getting pretty odorous after a while.”

“Home Alone” house in modern day in Winnetka, Ill.Dawn McKenna/Coldwell Banker Realty

Dawn McKenna/Coldwell Banker Realty

Other scenes were filmed on a soundstage that recreated rooms in the home, which John and his family got to visit.

“My parents and I were invited to go take a look. It felt like you were walking through our house but obviously not. It was just very bizarre in a very cool kind of way. How many people can say they walked through a set of their own house?” Lauren adds.

Fans of the film started visiting the Illinois home the holiday season after its release — and continue to, nearly 35 years later.

Home Alone house in Winnetka, Ill.Disney+

Disney+

“My parents went to the premiere and then they took me to see it in the movie theater and already, cars were lined up down the block. You couldn’t see the end of the line. It was really cool, but we didn’t expect it,” Lauren recalls.

“And then over time, people grew a little bit bolder, so they’d get out of the car and get closer to the house. For us, we’d come home, we’d run some errands and come home and there’s a stranger in your yard — not intentionally trying to intrude. They’re just so excited to see theHome Alonehouse and they want to be as close to it as possible.”

source: people.com