The first time I saw the movie "A Christmas Story," I was discombobulated.
When I was a tyke growing up in Los Alamos, N.M., I hadn't noticed Jean Shepherd, the guy behind "A Christmas Story," hanging out with my family around Christmastime. I hadn't noticed Shepherd taking notes as my Old Man became ... er, perturbed with the "assembly required" toys. I hadn't witnessed Shepherd smiling and nodding while my mom advised me and my two brothers to "Don't break your neck!" when we went sledding on the snowy hills around our home.
Shepherd was the writer whose short stories and semi-autobiographical, humorous anecdotes became the book "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash," which later became the comical movie "A Christmas Story."
I was convinced after seeing the film (released in 1983) that Shepherd had somehow magically channeled my childhood Christmas experiences.
OK, I don't recall my Old Man scoring a sexy leg lamp around Christmastime. But when Ralphie, the boy hero of "A Christmas Story," notes that his dad, his "Old Man," was a Picasso of blue language, I figured Shepherd had been spying on my Old Man, whose artful cussing made Shakespeare's language seem like a gorilla's grunts.
Ralphie yearns for Santa to bring him a BB gun, but his mom always applies the "classic mother BB gun block: 'You'll shoot your eye out!'" My perpetual childhood Christmas dream -- a scooter. But my mom would always apply the classic mother scooter block: "You'll break your neck!"
No shaman-like Santas, no magic elves, no miracles, no reindeer and no time-traveling angels appear in "A Christmas Story." It's simply an Everyman ... OK, an Every Family tale about a semi-dysfunctional middle-class clan holding on to simple Christmas dreams while navigating the hassles of daily life.
Yet several polls have named "A Christmas Story" as the most popular Christmas flick of all time.
It's become a tradition at our house on Christmas Day to set the TV to TNT, which always airs "A Christmas Story" for 24 hours straight beginning at 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
Merry Christmas, Ralphie.
In other Christmas news ...
Dear Santa,
Speaking of childhood Christmas memories, I remember you bringing me G.I. Joes, toy tanks, plastic toy soldiers and play rifles and pistols -- all this on the day when much of the world is celebrating the Prince of Peace.
Those war toys didn't warp me, and I'm not ungrateful. Still, I'm just sayin' ....
The mystery of Boxing Day solved: Internet sources say Boxing Day, which is observed Dec. 26, derives from the British tradition of giving seasonal gifts (in the form of a Christmas box) to servants and other laborers who had to work on Christmas Day.
Nope. Boxing Day got its name from a tradition that dates back to ancient Mesopotamia -- a tradition that developed in any family with two or more children. It refers to the day after Christmas when, inevitably, one child would notice his-her sibling received a cooler toy from Santa, and they'd duke it out for possession of that lone, really cool toy.
The mystery of Boxing Day solved, part two: Some Christmas historians theorize a different origin of Boxing Day. It refers to the day after Christmas when, inevitably, toys begin to snap, break and disintegrate like toothpicks in the jaw of Godzilla. Such toys are, of course, unceremoniously dumped into the toy box -- never to be seen again.
Happy Boxing Day.
When I was a tyke growing up in Los Alamos, N.M., I hadn't noticed Jean Shepherd, the guy behind "A Christmas Story," hanging out with my family around Christmastime. I hadn't noticed Shepherd taking notes as my Old Man became ... er, perturbed with the "assembly required" toys. I hadn't witnessed Shepherd smiling and nodding while my mom advised me and my two brothers to "Don't break your neck!" when we went sledding on the snowy hills around our home.
Shepherd was the writer whose short stories and semi-autobiographical, humorous anecdotes became the book "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash," which later became the comical movie "A Christmas Story."
I was convinced after seeing the film (released in 1983) that Shepherd had somehow magically channeled my childhood Christmas experiences.
OK, I don't recall my Old Man scoring a sexy leg lamp around Christmastime. But when Ralphie, the boy hero of "A Christmas Story," notes that his dad, his "Old Man," was a Picasso of blue language, I figured Shepherd had been spying on my Old Man, whose artful cussing made Shakespeare's language seem like a gorilla's grunts.
Ralphie yearns for Santa to bring him a BB gun, but his mom always applies the "classic mother BB gun block: 'You'll shoot your eye out!'" My perpetual childhood Christmas dream -- a scooter. But my mom would always apply the classic mother scooter block: "You'll break your neck!"
No shaman-like Santas, no magic elves, no miracles, no reindeer and no time-traveling angels appear in "A Christmas Story." It's simply an Everyman ... OK, an Every Family tale about a semi-dysfunctional middle-class clan holding on to simple Christmas dreams while navigating the hassles of daily life.
Yet several polls have named "A Christmas Story" as the most popular Christmas flick of all time.
It's become a tradition at our house on Christmas Day to set the TV to TNT, which always airs "A Christmas Story" for 24 hours straight beginning at 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
Merry Christmas, Ralphie.
In other Christmas news ...
Dear Santa,
Speaking of childhood Christmas memories, I remember you bringing me G.I. Joes, toy tanks, plastic toy soldiers and play rifles and pistols -- all this on the day when much of the world is celebrating the Prince of Peace.
Those war toys didn't warp me, and I'm not ungrateful. Still, I'm just sayin' ....
The mystery of Boxing Day solved: Internet sources say Boxing Day, which is observed Dec. 26, derives from the British tradition of giving seasonal gifts (in the form of a Christmas box) to servants and other laborers who had to work on Christmas Day.
Nope. Boxing Day got its name from a tradition that dates back to ancient Mesopotamia -- a tradition that developed in any family with two or more children. It refers to the day after Christmas when, inevitably, one child would notice his-her sibling received a cooler toy from Santa, and they'd duke it out for possession of that lone, really cool toy.
The mystery of Boxing Day solved, part two: Some Christmas historians theorize a different origin of Boxing Day. It refers to the day after Christmas when, inevitably, toys begin to snap, break and disintegrate like toothpicks in the jaw of Godzilla. Such toys are, of course, unceremoniously dumped into the toy box -- never to be seen again.
Happy Boxing Day.
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