How To Watch A Christmas Story This Holiday Season
There are Christmas movies and then there are Christmas movies — as in, the ones you can't escape knowing about even if you tried, like "Home Alone," "It's a Wonderful Life," "Miracle on 34th Street," and, of course, "A Christmas Story." You may not love them all equally; in fact, you might actually outright hate some of them! And yet, there are moments and quotes from these films that will remain burned into your brain until the day you die. It's also inevitable that you'll end up having to revisit them during the annual winter holidays, whether it's because you legitimately love them or because you've finally given up trying to convince everyone to agree on something new to watch during one of your family gatherings and just thrown on "Elf" for the umpteenth time instead.
With "A Christmas Story" turning 40 in 2023, 'tis the season more than ever to revisit the tale of nine-year-old Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley) and his quest to secure a Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle for Christmas in the 1940s. One of two Yuletide classics directed by Bob Clark (the other being the still-chilling-as-ever 1974 slasher "Black Christmas"), the film draws mainly from Jean Shepherd's humorous, semi-fictional 1966 autobiographical book "In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash" and offers a similar blend of wistful nostalgia and unvarnished realism with its depiction of the trials of childhood. Indeed, much like when you reminisce about being a kid, you have to learn to take the good with the bad upon revisiting "A Christmas Story." (*Stares at the racist Chinese restaurant scene.*)
But how does one even go about revisiting "A Christmas Story" in this most confusing era of the streaming age? Never fret, we're here to help you.
Don't shoot your eye out, there are multiple ways to catch A Christmas Story
Naturally, the easiest way to assure you that you'll always have access to "A Christmas Story" is to purchase it on physical media. There are a lot of options, too. You could pick up the 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and Digital combo pack (which is currently going for $13.99 at multiple online outlets) or instead go with the slightly cheaper Blu-ray and DVD combo pack, depending on just how high-definition you prefer your leg-shaped lamps to be. There are even full-screen DVD editions of "A Christmas Story" still floating about out there in the nebulous online realm, the majority of which are going for less than $10 if that's your preferred method.
In terms of streaming, "A Christmas Story" is — for the time being — available on Max alongside its 2022 legacy sequel, "A Christmas Story Christmas." (Technically, there are a whole lot more "Christmas Story" sequels than you're probably aware of, but we'll leave you to venture down that rabbit hole at your discretion.) Alternatively, you can spend a few bucks to rent it in HD on a Premium Video On Demand platform like Vudu, Prime Video, or Apple TV, or cough up just a little more to purchase it through those same vendors. However you prefer to revisit the Christmas classics, you've got options.
And with that, we shall bid you all happy holidays, a fond farewell, and shove you down the slide with the heel of our boot. HO. HO. HO.