The first time I watched the movie A Christmas Story I was a mere 28 years old. I remember laying on the den floor of my mom-in-law and dad-in-laws house and laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe. Everything about the story was funny to me: the Red Ryder BB gun, Ralphie saying “fudge,” the kid sticking his tongue to the pole, Ralphie’s dream of going blind from “soap poisoning,” and the Bumpus hounds eating the Christmas turkey.
The movie is based on the wonderful writings of Jean Shepherd* and his quotes are so famous, most of us know them by heart:
“Now, I had heard that word at least ten times a day from my old man. He worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master.”
“Over the years I got to be quite a connoisseur of soap. Though my personal preference was for Lux, I found that Palmolive had a nice, piquant after-dinner flavor - heavy, but with a touch of mellow smoothness. Lifebuoy, on the other hand... (Yechh!)”
“With as much dignity as he could muster, the Old Man gathered up the sad remains of his shattered Major Award. Later that night, alone in the backyard, he buried it next to the garage. Now I could never be sure, but I thought that I heard the sound of "Taps" being played. Gently.”
That first Christmas we all laughed ourselves silly and couldn’t wait to watch it again the following year … that’s right, kids, there was a time in history when we didn’t have tv recording devices, dvds, Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, on-demand, cell phones, tablets, or anything else! You watched something once a year and looked forward to 365 days passing when you could watch it again!! Fun times.
Nowadays, we own an ancient dvd of the movie and have about a thousand other optional ways to watch it but our favorite format is still tuning in at 8:00pm on Christmas Eve and watching it for the next 24 hours. We all still laugh as if it is the first time we’re seen it.
Because of our love of this movie we decided several years ago to honor it by ordering Chinese take-out for Christmas dinner and we couldn’t be happier about this decision. Like the movie says, after the Bumpas hounds bust in and eat their turkey, “The heavenly aroma still hung in the house. But it was gone, all gone! No turkey! No turkey sandwiches! No turkey salad! No turkey gravy! Turkey Hash! Turkey a la King! Or gallons of turkey soup! Gone, ALL GONE!” Then the family goes to the Chop Suey Palace, the only restaurant open on Christmas to eat a duck that is “smiling.”
Each Christmas afternoon, while still in our pajamas, my daughter and I drive to a delightful place called Tan’s Asian Cafe**, order an assortment of Asian-American food, drink a beer while we wait, and laugh about our wonderfully silly and-wouldn’t-trade-it-for-anything family tradition!
*Jean Shepherd’s books can be found wherever books are sold (don’t forget to shop local) … and the one this movie is based on is titled In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash. It is an excellent read!
**Tan’s Asian Cafe is next to Esposito’s, 2743 Capital Circle NE in Tallahassee. Their food is great and the folks that work there are simply delightful!
Merry Christmas!
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