The monstrous furnace, the Red Ryder BB-gun, that fishnet-stockinged leg lamp, the impatient department store Santa, the tongue frozen on the flagpole¾who could have guessed that this offbeat combination of characters and events would add up to such a hilarious, warm-hearted holiday favorite? Based on Jean Shepherd's autobiography, "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash," this sentimental memoir set in 1941 Indiana, rings true thanks to Peter Billingsley's dead-on portrayal of nine-year-old Ralphie-a kid whose childhood calamities touch a familiar chord with anyone whose mom warned "You'll shoot your eye out!"