How did you first discover this movie?

I was 9 years old and they were showing it to us kids in class on the last few days before winter break. I'd never heard of this movie, and yet I could tell it was old enough that mom and dad should have known about it, and why didn't they tell me? It took me some time and a few viewings to figure out a few things:

1.) It's not that great of a story. It's essentially another Charlie Brown-type loser kid living in 1940s America during Christmas, and suffering from a ton of life disappointments that drag the story down. The story wasn't very funny either.

2.) My parents knew all about it and didn't like it at all, so they had a very good reason not to show it to my brother and I and deliberately forgot about it after it was released in the 1980s.

from the hype it get online every christmas on movie forum.

it is well made film but lacks storyline. in opening scene he sees toy he want in toy shop window. i was expecting film to be about boy trying to get toy for christmas, like jingles all the way. but then nothing much happen! but i enjoy film.

This is the seminal Christmas movie to me. Born in the late 70s, this movie was absolutely unavoidable to me as one of those consistent visual representations of the era.

The only other Christmas movie that touches it is “Christmas Vacation”. Personally, those are the two most iconic Christmas movies.

I remember seeing some of it on VHS but didn't really fully watch until I had it on dvd. It's got it's charm and occasionally I'll watch it on Christmas Eve but I don't consider it a Christmas Classic.

I saw It on HBO a couple of years after it was in theatres. I was around 9 years old and I thought it was the funniest thing I'd ever seen. I still think it's funny, but I've seen it so many times that there's no spontaneity to it anymore and that's a key element of comedy for me.