A CHRISTMAS STORY CHRISTMAS
A funny, heartfelt Christmas sequel for older children and adults.
Should You Watch It?
This is a funny, heartfelt sequel that honors fathers and grandfathers while also giving mothers and grandmothers their due. Peter Billingsley returns as the adult Ralphie and does another wonderful job, while the story adds more heart than its predecessor.
The movie’s Christian references are positive, though usually brief. Christmas traditions point toward the Christmas star, the Nativity, angels, and carols such as “Silent Night.” The tradeoff is content that calls for discernment: 13 obscenities, drinking scenes in a bar, and several moments of slapstick and accidental injury.
If your family includes older children who can handle those concerns, this is a warm choice for a Christmas movie night.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESIt is Christmas in 1973, and grown-up Ralph Parker is struggling to sell his first science fiction book. Then his father suddenly dies, and Ralph takes his wife and two children to visit his mother in Hohman, Indiana.
Wanting to honor his father’s memory, Ralph decides to create the perfect Christmas for his own family. Now he must discover whether he can give them a Christmas to remember.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means this sequel delivers both strong entertainment and genuine feeling. It has many funny comic set pieces, and its heartfelt story gives the movie a warm emotional center.
The cast is also a major strength. Peter Billingsley is wonderful as Ralph, and Erinn Hayes, Julie Hagerty, River Drosche, Julianna Layne, and the returning cast members support the story well. It may not be as hilarious or iconic as the earlier movie, but it offers a particularly strong Christmas tribute to fathers and grandfathers.
The Worldview
The movie presents a very strong moral, pro-family worldview. It stresses gratitude, reconciliation, and celebrating Christmas together. Its central moral is the importance of honoring fathers and mothers, while also remembering grandparents and the sacrifices within a family.
The Christian content is positive but usually brief. The film references the Christmas star, the Nativity, angels, and Christmas carols including “Silent Night” and “Come All Ye Faithful.” It also includes a character saying that another man’s actions inspired him to stop being a bully and become a policeman.
The film’s central longing is to honor a father’s memory by loving and serving the family he left behind. That connects with the command, “Honor your father and your mother so that your days will increase in the land that the Lord your God gives you” (Exodus 20:12).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements
Very strong moral, pro-family worldview stresses gratitude, reconciliation and celebrating Christmas together, and honors fathers and grandfathers, but doesn’t forget mothers and grandmothers, with positive but usually brief Christian references to the Christmas star, the Nativity, angels, and some Christmas carols that are sometimes heard in the background (including “Silent Night” and “Come All Ye Faithful”), plus man says another man’s actions made him want to stop being a bully and become a policeman
Foul Language
13 obscenities (two SOB words, some “h” and “d” and a** words), six light exclamatory profanities (including OMG, Dear God and “Oh, Lordy”), three light scatological references, a character is called a “moron,” and boy vomits after licking a huge lollipop while standing in line to visit Santa
Violence
Some slapstick violence and other violence such as bullies on a snowmobile deliberately run over a snowman built by boy and his sister made, its implied the snowmobile crashes in another scene, men slide down an icy construction ramp and land on their backs, men and a woman sled down a hill (woman hits hood of a junkyard car, boy sleds down a hill, and it’s implied he hits another junkyard car and broke his arm (he shows up in a cast in next scenes), family gets into a snowball fight, and father accidentally hits young daughter in left eye (knocking her down), and she has to wear an eyepatch for precaution after visiting the ER, father accidentally breaks some windows, father takes a pratfall trying to break into friend’s bar, wife slips on porch and sprains her ankle, and there’s talk about the family’s grandfather suddenly passing away
Sex
No sex
Nudity
No nudity
Alcohol Use
Scenes are set at a friend’s bar with people drinking and one or two seem a bit tipsy in two scenes
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse
No smoking or drugs;
Miscellaneous Immorality
Lying, older bullies steal a younger boy’s scarf, Christmas presents are stolen when car trunk accidentally comes open, man and his mother avoid Christmas carolers because the carolers like to sing two or three songs not just one when you open the door, man breaks into his friend’s bar to take a Christmas decoration.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Ralph wants to honor his father through the Christmas he creates for his family. How can gratitude shape the way we remember those who have loved us?
Psalm 103:2 · 1 Thessalonians 5:18The movie honors fathers, mothers, grandfathers, and grandmothers. What does honoring family look like when relationships are imperfect or grief is fresh?
Exodus 20:12 · Romans 12:10Christmas brings this family together. What helps your family make time for reconciliation and shared joy?
Colossians 3:13–15 · Romans 12:16The film includes brief references to the Nativity and Christmas carols. How can your family keep Christ at the center of Christmas celebrations?
Luke 2:10–14 · Colossians 3:16The Final Word
This warm sequel offers older children and adults a funny, well-acted Christmas story about gratitude, reconciliation, and honoring family. Its language, bar scenes, and slapstick violence call for discernment, but families who can handle those concerns will find a heartfelt holiday choice. Our answer is WORTH THE TRIP — MIDDLE SCHOOL AND UP.
