‘A Christmas Story’ 24-hour annual marathon explained

Deck the halls. 

It’s that time of year when seasonal classic “A Christmas Story” has its marathon on TNT and TBS. 

For 24 hours straight on Christmas Day, the networks will air and re-air and re-air “A Christmas Story.” 

The tradition has been around since 1997, a source from the network told The Post. 

The source said that the annual tradition “showcases the power of nostalgia.” 

The 1983 movie, directed by Bob Clark and based on Jean Shepherd’s 1966 book “In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash,” follows Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley, now 52, who also appeared as one of the elves in another seasonal classic, “Elf”), a boy who wants a Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle for Christmas — but everyone from his mom to a department store Santa Claus warns him, “You’ll shoot your eye out!” 

Sure enough, he does have an eye-related mishap after getting the rifle for Christmas, but as an adult, he reflects that it was the best present he ever got.

Other vignettes in the movie follow his dad, or “the Old Man,” played by Darren McGavin, who died in 2006 at age 83. 

“Ralphie is a relentless guy,” Billingsley told Entertainment Weekly last year.

“Everyone’s telling him no, Santa’s kicking him in the face. He’s just getting up, dusting off and moving on. He’s not going to stop trying to convince people to give him this BB gun. I love that quality,” the actor continued. “That’s a good quality in an adult and in a protagonist. You want your protagonist to be relentless in pursuit of whatever his goal is. And he’s a dreamer. I always say he’s a dreamer and a nightmarer. He has visions of how he wants things to go and how they can go horribly wrong. That’s relatable, if we’re honest with ourselves.”

When the movie first came out, it wasn’t a big hit, earning just around $19 million at the box office. 

But as cable TV rose in popularity, it became a seasonal staple. 

Turner Broadcasting began airing it in 1991 — on its networks TBS, TNT and TCM — and as ratings grew, it increased its presence on Christmas until it became the marathon that it’s known as, today. 

In 1995, it was aired over the three different channels a combined six times from Dec. 24 to Dec. 26.

It increased to eight separate broadcasts in 1996. 

In 1997, thanks to the rising popularity, the 24-hour marathon officially kicked off. 

It remains the most non-sports-related program that audiences watch on Christmas Day, with 32 million viewers reportedly watching in 2020. 

However, fans have mixed feelings about the movie and the annual marathon. 

“It’s the way a Christmas story is the best Christmas movie & it doesn’t come close,” one fan posted on social media. 

Another viewer disagreed and slammed the movie: “A christmas story is easily the worst of the popular christmas canon.”

Another viewer criticized the marathon: “’24 hours of A Christmas Story starts Christmas Eve’ tbs is insane I can’t believe they still do this kind of thing for the WORST CHRISTMAS MOVIE OF ALL TIME … AND THE VAST MAJORITY OF CHRISTMAS MOVIES ARENT VERY GOOD.”

Another said, “Watched A Christmas Story for the first time tonight. It is unbelievably overrated. You people need help.”

But, the marathon and the movie still have plenty of supporters who think that it’s the most wonderful time of the year.

“The best Christmas movie is A Christmas Story. Even including Diehard as a a Christmas movie, it still doesn’t beat it. 30+ year tradition of watching it on a Christmas Eve. That will continue forever,” one fan proclaimed. 

“It’s almost 24 hours of A Christmas Story time and I’m so excited,” another fan posted. 

The movie’s popularity gave it a 2022 sequel, “A Christmas Story Christmas,” which is set in the 1970s and features an aging Ralphie returning to his hometown with his new family in an attempt to reconnect with his childhood after the death of his father.

“People ask me, ‘Why does this movie resonate?’” Billingsley told EW.

“Because it’s a real family, man. By the same token, it’s also not quite the super dark, indie, the ‘Oh, no, don’t open that family door.’ It’s not that family, but it’s also not the Bradys or Disney-fied … It’s real. The dad gets a little hot. The mother is overburdened. The brothers are at each other’s throats. It’s like, ‘Yep, that’s my family.’”