A Christmas Story: The holiday film A Christmas Story , first released in 1983, has become a bona fide Christmas perennial, gaining in stature and fame with each succeeding year, Its affectionate, wacky, and wryly realistic portrayal of an American family's typical Christmas joys and travails in small-town Depression-era Indiana has entered our imagination and our hearts with a force equal to It's a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street. Published October 28, 2003. Hardcover. 144 pages Measurements: 5" x 7.5" " origin="United States"