I'm a big fan of traditions- making them or carrying on with old ones. And every year around Christmas it's a tradition to visit a particular candy shop in a small town where I grew up, a candy store I've been going to since I was a kid. It's changed ownership and store names over the years but it's one constant is remaining a candy store. The shop is small, with large front windows and has been in the same old, turn-of-the-century brick building for decades. The charming kind of place with deep roots in the town's history that you'd find in just about any small (old) town, USA.
Anyway, I stopped by last week and lo and behold, they have a Christmas Story theme in one of the windows! I'm sure many of you have a special place in your hearts for a Christmas Story- I sure as hell do! How could you not? And as I'm sure it is in your homes, here it's been a tradition for the past few years to have the movie on tv all day in the background on Christmas day, thanks to the 24 hour marathon on TBS. (Side note: Can you imagine the residuals the actors are getting from the movie being played 24 hours straight?! And if they don't, they're getting screwed.)
I took some pics of my small town shop & it's windows, just for Christmas-y fun! The pics aren't great, but whatever. It's the thought that counts, right?
Front of the shop. Obviously. The Christmas Story window is on the right.
The display is small, but so cute! There's a box that says Fragile ("Fra-JEE-lay. That must be Italian!"), a vintage table & tablecloth with the infamous leg lamp on top. On the right side of the table is a retro bar of Lifebuoy soap and a replica of Ralphie's glasses. And of course "Ol' Blue"- the Red Ryder bb gun on the floor!
From inside the candy store, looking at the display from behind.
But also sitting on the table was this:
It says "Certificate of Authenticity. Original piece of "A Christmas Story" house, signed by the owner, Brian Jones.
And I'm all, "who the balls is Brian Jones?!" So I researched it, and apparently the original house in the movie was auctioned on ebay (
ebay! oy.) Did you know any of this? Because I did not. The house sold to a Christmas Story superfan named Brian Jones, who then took the house- which looked like THIS:
Oh sweet jebus. The horror! It's nice and all, but come ON...
...And restored it back to it's "original" 1930's condition, the way it looked in the movie:
Ta-da! How freaking awesome is that? Of course, there's also open house tours, a museum, booking for people to get married there- he preserved it into a huge empire of childhood memory fun! Like what Disney turned into. Only there's no eternal contract with the devil.
He did keep the original beat-up mailbox, and I love that he did.
If you want to see more pictures of the house or get info on tours or whatnot, you can
visit the website at www.achristmasstoryhouse.com!
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