broke his glasses, and she believes him and takes him to the bathroom to get cleaned up. That night, Ralphie goes to sleep with the gun by his side as his adult self reflects that it was the best Christmas present he had ever received or would ever receive. Other vignettes Interspersed with the main story are several loosely related vignettes involving the Parkers: The Old Man wins a "major award" in a contest – a table lamp in the shape of a woman's leg wearing a fishnet stocking. The Old Man is overjoyed but Mrs. Parker is not. "The Battle of the Lamp" develops, ending with Mrs. Parker "accidentally" destroying it, much to the Old Man's fury. Unable to fix the lamp, he defeatedly buries the remains in the backyard. The Old Man also fights a never-ending battle with the malfunctioning furnace in the Parker home. His frustrations cause him to swear quite often, including one profanity-laden rant (heard as gibberish) that the adult Ralphie says "is still hanging in space over Lake Michigan". His influence later reflects back upon Ralphie when The Old Man's car suddenly blows a tire, and Mrs. Parker suggests that Ralphie help his father change the tire. While holding the lug nuts in the tire's hubcap, The Old Man accidentally knocks them out of Ralphie's hands, causing Ralphie to utter profanity and have his mouth washed out with soap. Still another source of frustration for The Old Man is the dogs that belong to the Bumpus family, the Parkers' hillbilly next-door neighbors. The Bumpuses own "at least 785 smelly hound dogs" that harass The Old Man whenever he comes home from work. On Christmas Day, the dogs ruin the family's dinner by romping through their kitchen and eating their turkey, forcing the family to go to a Chinese restaurant for Christmas dinner. Ralphie and his friends Flick and Schwartz along with Randy are tormented by the neighborhood bullies Scut Farkus and Grover Dill. Ralphie eventually snaps and beats up Farkus. Mrs. Parker catches him mid-fight and Ralphie expects her to tell The Old Man, but instead she redirects the conversation to a football game, leading The Old Man to brush it off. Cast Peter Billingsley as Ralphie Parker Jean Shepherd as adult Ralphie (voice) / man standing in the Santa Claus line at Higbee's Ian Petrella as Randy Parker Melinda Dillon as Mrs. Parker