Boys are passionate dreamers, and they sure do a lot of stupid things. They’re the kind who’d stick their tongues to a frozen pole, the kind to get in fights, cuss, get a C+ on a paper, and torment siblings. Boys are the wild-eyed seekers of life, who’d stop at nothing to shoot their eye out. Ralphie Parker, the nine-year old hero of the Jean Shepherd-penned 1983 holiday classic, A Christmas Story, was that boy. And I related. I grew up always wanting a B.B. gun (sadly, I never got one). I dealt with my share of bullies. One cold winter morning, I even stuck my tongue to a frozen fence pole on a triple-dog dare (my mom poured her hot tea on my tongue to remove it, just in time for the school bus to arrive). Although A Christmas Story is the movie I have watched more than any other movie in my life, I still make a point to watch it every Christmas, when TNT/TBS airs 24 hours of A Christmas Story. Memories like that should always be repeated. Beginning at 8 p.m. on Mon., Dec. 24 and running through 6 p.m. Christmas Day. Check local cable/satellite listings for channel.

Mon., Dec. 24; Tue., Dec. 25, 2007