Ralphie Parker is the imaginative kid at the center of A Christmas Story, spending one very important holiday season pursuing what he considers the greatest Christmas gift civilization has ever produced:

A Red Ryder BB gun.

Unfortunately, nearly every adult in Ralphie’s life reaches the same conclusion about this plan. His mother objects. His teacher objects. Even Santa Claus objects. Ralphie therefore spends much of December constructing increasingly elaborate strategies to convince someone that putting a projectile weapon in his hands is actually an excellent idea.

His imagination turns those everyday setbacks into enormous adventures. School assignments become masterworks, neighborhood bullies become monsters, decoder pins promise espionage, and a Christmas present becomes an all-consuming campaign.

Through it all, Ralphie remains recognizably a kid: dramatic, hopeful, selfish, frightened, funny, and absolutely certain that adults simply do not understand the importance of the situation.

Sometimes childhood is wonder.

Sometimes childhood is trying desperately to defeat a coordinated anti-BB-gun conspiracy.