December 15
A Christmas Story
My favorite of the Christmas comedy films is A Christmas Story, a tale of Christmas set in the 1940s. The scenes have become cultural icons: Flick’s tongue stuck to a pole (I triple dog dare you), Randy’s pink pajamas from Aunt Clara, the arrival of the leg lamp, the visit to the department store Santa with the amazing slide, and even Christmas dinner at a Chinese restaurant – “Deck the Halls” never sounded so good!
Watching the movie is a nostalgic experience for those of us of a certain age. We remember the downtown scenes of the big city, the magical displays in store windows, the visit to Santa, and the Christmas parades. We relive those moments every time we watch the film, and now we can even visit the tourist site that’s been developed on West 11thStreet in Cleveland where the movie was filmed. Open year round, what fun it is to tour the house, and then visit the gift shop for our own leg lamp or an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle.
Warned repeatedly that he was going to shoot his eye out with the longed-for rifle, the adult Ralph reflects on his unfortunate accident with his new rifle: “Oh, life is like that. Sometimes, at the height of our revelries, when our joy is at its zenith, when all is most right with the world, the most unthinkable disasters descend upon us.” Yet sometimes the opposite occurs as well: when all seems most wrong with our world, joy somehow finds its way to us. C.S. Lewis called it being “surprised by joy.”
Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.
Psalm 30:5
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