Twelve films for Christmas, or at least ones I associate with the Holidays, listed between now and through the New Year. I had originally hoped to complete this list for Christmas Day, but a family emergency changed that plan. These are not in any particular order.

Day 7: A Christmas Story (1983 dir. Bob Clark)

It works so well because it gets the details right. The Wizard of Oz characters in the parade. Lifebuoy soap. Victor, the Lone Ranger’s nephew’s horse. Little Orphan Annie. “Frajeeelay.’ Listening to the radio that’s alway on in the background. Christmas Tree shopping and haggling. The fear of breaking one’s glasses. The anger at the school bully. The joy of receiving that one perfect Christmas gift.

You’ll notice those last three are emotional details, and that’s how the movie grabs me. It doesn’t tell me how to feel about something, it shows me people dealing with them every day. Through vignettes, universally applicable, Bob Clark’s A Christmas Story tells a story set around 1940 but true to the everyday experience of families at the holidays in the United States.

I say around 1940 because the film never really states its exact time. The clues, and you have to kind of decode them like Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) and his decoder ring, all point to circa 1939 but pre 1941, somewhere in there. I wouldn’t call it vague, but the film is brave enough to not say and that choice also keeps it universal.

It’s a beautiful film too, containing one of my all time favorite shots in all of film history. Right at the end, Mother (Melinda Dillon) and the Old Man (Darren McGavin) are sitting facing away from the camera in the glow of the Christmas tree lights as snow gently falls outside of their front room window (no longer occupied by the major award), a chorus quietly singing a carol from the radio. It’s gorgeous stuff, detailing in an unspoken way the love and affection these two certainly must have for each other.

Of course it’s a classic, and it deserves to be one. It will always play. And I agree with Roger Ebert’s observation too, the Old Man knew about Ralphie’s fight before he got home.