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A Christmas Story Christmas, the sequel to the 1983 cult classic A Christmas Story, premiered on HBO Max on November 17, 2022, setting a nostalgic tone with familiar characters. The film by Clay Kaytis follows the wide-eyed kid from the previous film, Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley), who is now a father himself and struggles to make Christmas as magical as his old man did.
Though A Christmas Story seems to be one of the most popular films from the era, it was hardly a hit when it was released. Through cable reruns over many years, it became an iconic holiday movie. In recreating this charm, A Christmas Story Christmas tries to play with a similar format, character development, and even a similar ending.
A Christmas Story Christmas also resolves every issue by the end of the story and ends on an encouraging note.
A Christmas Story Christmas ending: Ralphie's attempts at filling the big shoes
A Christmas Story Christmas opened with a middle-aged Ralphie, who has been struggling with his writing career. He lives with his wife, Sandy (Erinn Hayes), and two kids. As he waits for the Christmas tradition of his parents visiting, he hears the sad news of his father's (played by Darren McGavin in the original film) demise. This urges Ralphie to return to his hometown for Christmas.
The rest of the plot centers around this familiar setting with a recurring theme of Ralphie trying to metaphorically fill in his father's shoes, which he realizes is much more difficult than it sounds, even for a grown-up.
The ending of the film sees a star at the top of the tree collapsing, leading the kids to worry about Santa not visiting. This is when Ralphie steps up, much like his father, and sets out to get a star. After driving around unsuccessfully, Ralphie finally sees one atop a bar's Christmas tree. He decides to steal it.
After almost making it out of the bar, he is caught by a cop, who turns out to be his childhood nemesis, Scut Farkus (Zack Ward). In a turn of events, Farkus acknowledges how Ralphie had affected him deeply as a child, and he went on to do good with his life. He drops Ralphie home, and he is able to return with the star, effectively becoming the father he wanted to be.
The last sequence of A Christmas Story Christmas brings more good news as Ralphie discovers that his wife had sent a story about his father to the local newspaper, and it was eventually published. The newspaper also enquired if Ralphie had more such stories. Their Christmas ends with Ralphie becoming a writer, filling his old man's shoes by being a great father himself.
Much like many other holiday-themed films, this film also ends on a heartwarming and happy note.
A Christmas Story Christmas is now out on HBO Max. If you are a fan of feel-good holiday movies, this flick is for you. Stay tuned for more updates.
