Tis the time of year to trek to the video store or set the VCR to view once again those perennial offerings for the holiday season.

One worth seeing is “A Christmas Story,” the tale of eight-year-old Ralphy and his quest to get a Red Ridder BB gun for Christmas. Ralphy is growing up in the radio days of the 1940s with his furnace-fighting father, a mother who hasn’t had a hot meal in 15 years due to mealtime interruptions, and his younger brother, Randy, who hangs out under the kitchen sink and refuses to eat.

One of the movie’s subplots is the good-taste war raging between his mother and father over a lamp. Yes, a lamp. But this is no ordinary lamp; it is in the shape of a woman’s leg, complete with fishnet stockings and garter belts. Ralphy’s father prizes it because he won it, proudly displaying the lamp in the front window. Ralphy’s mother eventually “accidentally” breaks it while watering her plants.

alphy’s main goal in the movie is to con her mom, dad and/or Santa into giving him a Red Rider BB gun for Christmas. Even though everyone tells him he’ll shoot his eye out, Ralphy envisions using it to save the family from outlaws.

The movie is both funny and touching as it captures the anticipation and desperation children feel during the holidays.

“Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer,” is a 20-year-old feature which gives a new spin on the saga of the famous reindeer.

The story is set in Christmas Town. Herbie the misfit elf wants to be a dentist and is slacking off in his elfish duties. Feeling rejected, Herbie decides to set out on his own.

We catch up with Rudolph at that testing ground for masculinity, the annual Reindeer Games. The games give young bucks a chance to prove their worthiness to pull Santa’s Sleigh. Rudolph strikes up a conversation with Clarisse, another sexy reindeer with long eyelashes and a bow on her head. It’s love.

When the mud disguising Rudolph’s glowing nose comes off, he is ostracized. The story has a lot to say about the pressue to conform to society’s standards. Even Santa, in a particularly unjolly mood, chimes in, “What a pity. He had such a nice take-off too.”

Rudolph and Herbie soon team up, finding companionship in their outcast status. They walk into a snow storm, trailed by the Abominable Snow Monster and join forces with Yukon Cornelius, the self-proclaimed, “greates prospector in the North.”

Fleeing the snow monster, the three end up in The Land of Misfit Toys, where such reject toys as a Charlie in the box and a choo-choo with square wheels in its caboose are taken to spend the lonely days.

udolph leaves the island and sets off to save his family (who have been looking for him) from being eaten by the snow monster. He does so, with the help of his friends, and receives a hero’s welcome in Christmas town.

Everyone, including Santa, learn not to judge others by the color of their noses or career ambitions. And, of course, Rudolph is chosen to lead Santa’s team because of his oddity and Herbie is allowed to open his dental practice.