YMMV / A Christmas Story Christmas

• Fridge Logic: Ralphie's vision of rotting away in prison includes a visit from his wife and kids after 10 years, showing how screwed up they became because he wasn't there for them. Apparently, his imagination is also vivid enough to correctly predict the 1983-era fashions all three of them are dressed in.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: Compared to the two films that came before it, It Runs in the Family (1994) and A Christmas Story 2, this sequel has been met with a significantly warmer reception, with many considering it to be a worthy sequel to the original. Having many of the original actors reprise their roles certainly helped, as does the plot referencing and utilizing the original film's events without rehashing them (a trap that 2 fell very hard into). As the critical consensus from Rotten Tomatoes puts it:
  Critics Consensus: It isn't as much fun as an official Red Ryder carbine action 200-shot, range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time, but A Christmas Story Christmas remains a sequel worth celebrating.
• So Okay, It's Average: The general consensus seems to be that, while it does come up short of the original, it's a harmless, entertaining nostalgia bomb that effectively tugs the right heartstrings and pays loving homage to the classic Jean Shepherd tale without feeling like a cynical cash grab (another trap that 2 fell very hard into).
• Spiritual Successor: There are enough similarities with the story and setting that the movie sometimes feels like a much [much] more wholesome and less cynical version of F is for Family. Perhaps not surprisingly, both projects share Peter Billingsley and Vince Vaughn as producers.
• Tearjerker: The moment Ralph gets the call about his father's passing. In an instant he goes from responsible adult ("Where are you now?") to scared little boy ("Okay, Ma..."). Even sadder when we dissolve to later that night, with Ralph's tearful children—who are probably dealing for the first time with the death of someone they love—bundled into bed with their parents.
  Ralph: "Nothing can prepare us for one of life's most painful and inescapable events... The passing of a parent. As the sadness of losing my old man took grip, two undeniable truths washed over us that night: Grandma needed us in Hohman, and this Christmas would be nothing like we anticipated."