It's set at Christmas, but what you probably remember most is the kid in the pink bunny suit. Or the leg lamp.
The movie follows Ralphie, a 9-year-old in the 1940s, and his quest for what he sees as the best Christmas gift: a Red Ryder BB gun. But every time he tells someone what he wants, he hears the same refrain: "You'll shoot your eye out."
On the big day, however, he gets his heart's desire -- although nothing follows the script of an "ideal" holiday. A mishap with the gun shows that the adults in his life weren't wrong to be worried. And thanks to the neighbor's pack of half-wild mutts, the family ends up eating their Christmas dinner at a Chinese restaurant.
But for Ralphie, now an adult, it was one of the most memorable and perfect holidays ever.
What it reveals: "Despite everything going against your plan, you can sometimes, on the fly, adjust and have a meaningful holiday," Mark says. "Tradition is what you make it."
Revelation for cynics: There's always time for good Chinese food. And it's a miracle anyone lived through the 1940s.