Merry Makings: A Season for Giving In

A Christmas Story 2 is a complete steaming ... lump of coal in movie watchers' stockings. But if you love sequels or are being held at your in-laws' house against your will, here are three reasons to surrender to the straight-to-DVD festive fi

Nov. 25, 2013 | 5:00 AM

1. THE OLD MAN
Actor Daniel Stern's Mr. Parker isn't nearly as mean as Darren McGavin's, but his stubbornness and nonsensical grumblings about the furnace might be as funny.

2. SEEING FLICK'S FOLLIES
Seems as though Flick's traumatic experience of having his tongue stuck to a pole didn't ... stick. This time, he gets it sucked into a mail chute in the basement of Higbee's.

3. THE MAJOR MOMENT
Ralphie uses the money he earned working at Higbee's to buy his dad a leg lamp after taking a homeless family out for — you guessed it, Christmas dinner at a Chinese restaurant.