Heartwarming / A Christmas Story

• When the Old Man points out Ralphie's final gift tucked away in the den. No points for guessing what it is.
  • What makes this especially heartwarming is the fact that the Old Man is the only significant adult in Ralphie's life that the boy doesn't directly talk to about the BB gun.
  • And the Old Man, who tends to be either exasperated bordering on grumpy or enthusiastic to the point of eccentricity (with the occasional mixing of both to create Angrish in human form), can only laugh like a school boy when he sees his son open the present he wanted the most and was completely convinced he would never get. The fact that he gets so much visible joy from making his child happy is truly heartwarming. Even his wife (who clearly had no idea he got this for Ralphie and was visibly displeased about it), couldn't be too mad because of how excited they both were.
  • Taken up to eleven in the Musical when the Narrator says that this was his best Christmas gift ever, claiming first because it was his Old Man then correcting himself and saying that it was the best because it was his Dad who got it for him.
  • This line of dialogue says it all.
    Old Man: I had one when I was eight years old.
  • Also, slightly before, The Old Man watches with embarrassment when Ralphie comes out with the pink bunny footed pajamas from his aunt. He already understands how a boy Ralphie's age wouldn't care for a gift like that, and is the one to convince his wife to let Ralphie go take it off.
    • Even Ralphie's mother at that point accepts that Ralphie hates the pajamas, and promises he won't ever have wear it again, (unless said aunt comes to visit).
• Although played for laughs, when the Old Man insists on taking his family out to the Chinese restaurant for Christmas dinner after the Bumpuses' dogs ruin their turkey, it shows that he is not gonna let anything ruin his family's Christmas.
  • At the Chinese restaurant, the staff do their best to sing Christmas carols, and even though the family can't keep from laughing at the staff's mangled English, everyone takes it in stride: the restaurant owner is also laughing at the bad singing, and it's clear the family appreciates the efforts the staff are making. As the narrator states, "That Christmas would live in our memories as the year we were introduced to Chinese turkey. And all was right with the world."
  • In the stage version, the Old Man is screaming and cursing up a storm after the Bumpus hounds make off with the turkey, understandably fuming. What finally gets him to stop? When he sees his wife standing in the kitchen, crying because all her hard work is ruined.
• Both Parker parents watching the snowfall while "Silent Night" plays on their radio. "Merry Christmas, sweetheart," coupled with a loving embrace.
• Ralphie's mom comforting him after he beats up Scut Farkus, as well as playing down the story to his dad.
  "From then on, things were different between me and my mother."
  • Easy to miss for its subtlety, but there's a wonderful moment between Ralphie's Mom and Dad here. After downplaying the fight to Dad, Mom changes the subject, asking Dad about a story in the newspaper. Look carefully, and you'll see their eyes meet, and you can see the conversation they're having: Dad is saying, "I know you're not telling me everything. I don't mind that, but do I need to get involved?" and Mom is answering, "No, don't worry, I've got this." All in a split-second, without them opening their mouths. (Kudos to Melinda Dillon and Darren McGavin for nailing this scene.) They may have epic battles over the leg lamp or the Christmas tree, but when it comes to the big things, Mom and Dad are in sync and trust each other completely. Good Parents / Happily Married indeed!
  • Later, when Ralphie breaks his glasses, he cooks up a story about an icicle falling and hitting his face. His Mom buys it... or does she? The icicle story is pretty lame, when you think about it, especially given the perfectly BB sized mark on Ralphie's cheek. It's more likely that Ralphie didn't fool his mom at all, but she decided to let this one slide, knowing Ralphie had learned his gun safety lesson already, and didn't need her berating him. Mom knows what she's doing.
  • In the TV version, the narrator finally realizes he didn't fool his mom after all.
• Ralphie's and Randy's mom comforting Randy after he gets scared by Santa.
  • Additionally, though Randy didn't end up liking it, when Ralphie sees the store is mere minutes from closing, his first reaction is to push Randy up ahead of him. No matter how much he wants the chance to ask Santa for his Red Rider, and worries he's running out of time, he's going to make damn sure his brother gets his chance to talk to Santa.
• After his sons get finished seeing Santa, The Old Man picks them up out of the fake snow and asks them how it was. Warmly holding Ralphie's shoulders and asking rather cheerfully if Ralphie asked Santa for what he wanted, and if Santa had asked about him being good or not. And when Ralphie says Santa didnt ask, The Old Man only cheerfully replies that he knows; he always knows.
  • This response is made even sweeter knowing that The Old Man has probably already bought the Red Rider that he knew Ralphie wanted by this point, and was excited to give it to him on Christmas morning.
  • While all this is going on, Randy's clinging rather desperately to their mom, who's in turn stroking his hair. Mama's little piggy indeed.
• Only in the stage show, a scene following Ralphie's beatdown of Scut Farcus between Esther Jane and Ralphie. Esther Jane gives him a card that she makes very clear she spent her own money on and picked out herself and rushes off in embarrassment. Ralph notes in his narration that the card is incredibly sappy and girly, and normally the sort of thing Ralphie wouldn't care for, but in this case, he didn't mind it. "Maybe even liked it a little bit."
• Randy picking up Ralphie's glasses off the ground and holding onto them while Ralphie is beating on Scut Farcus, and later on hiding in the cupboard beneath the kitchen sink and crying because he's worried that the Old Man is going to kill Ralphie. The two may have their scuffles and arguments as brothers, but at the end of the day they are brothers. And it goes to show Randy genuinely loves his brother and doesnt want anything bad to happen to him.
  • There's also him running to get their mom to break up the fight. And it wasn't the kind of "Ooh, you are SO busted!" It was more, "Oh, no. Ralphie might hurt himself, I gotta do something."
• As mean (or tired from the long day) as the Mall Santa is, his denying Ralphie the Red Ryder shows concern for his safety. He also seems considerably nicer to the kid that comes after Ralphie, bidding them goodbye by name.
• The boys give The Old Man a can of Simoniz (car wax), to which he reacts with warm delight (for their sake).
• One that's not in the movie, but in the book In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash which inspired it; Ralphie recalls how, years after the leg lamp is shattered, how his parents were able to look back and laugh about how ridiculous the whole fiasco got.
• Miss Shields runs outside without a coat, into a snowstorm (and in an Indiana December to boot), to help Flick when he gets his tongue stuck to a pole.