A Christmas Story has become a holiday season staple in many homes throughout the decades. Whether you own a leg lamp (my family has one) or you just sit around and let the movie play throughout Christmas Day when it airs on TV for 24 hours straight, the movie is part of Christmas in one way or another. A Christmas Story Christmas is, essentially, the same format as the original: Ralphie is taking us through the story, we get his asides, and he’s still fixated on one thing this holiday season. This time, it’s not a BB Gun, but rather getting his novel out into the world, and it’s all brought down by the fact that his father has died. So, we’re basically left with A Christmas Story for the depressed adult, and the fact that the reviews for the sequel are not equal to that of the original doesn’t feel fair—even though it is new in comparison to the holiday classic.

Now, to be clear, the reviews for A Christmas Story Christmas aren’t bad. They’re just not nearly at the same level as A Christmas Story. The original has a Rotten Tomatoes (yes, I know) rating of 90% for critics and 88% for audience reviews, while the sequel is at 78% and 81%, respectively. It’s not horrible— just different—but I think the sequel is a perfect continuation of the film.

There have been many cinematic and televised attempts at telling the story of the Parker family—never again with Peter Billingsley as Ralphie Parker (until now), but there were plenty of attempts at…