For Allen family, it’s not Christmas til they break out the leg lamp

ALBANY — There are people who have unusual Christmas traditions, families who incorporate some quirky bit into their annual holiday celebrations.

Then there are Russ and Angie Allen.

The Christmas season doesn’t officially start at the Allen household until they hold the “lighting of the leg lamp” ceremony.

Yes, the Allen family — and now their close friends and neighbors — holds a mini-celebration each year focused on the lighting of the lamp, a replica of the leg lamp enjoyed by Darren McGavin in the classic 1983 movie “A Christmas Story.”

“We kinda feel it’s not Christmas around here until the lamp comes out,” Russ Allen, a financial advisor with Raymond James, said. “This year is the 19th year we’ve continued the lighting of the lamp tradition, but it’s the first time we’ve invited friends and family over.”

Anyone who has a TV and has ever watched TBS, which typically runs the movie starring McGavin as “the Old Man,” Melinda Dillon as his wife and Peter Billingsly as Ralphie, on a loop during Christmas, knows “A Christmas Story.” The Parker patriarch, McGavin, orders the odd leg lamp and places it in the window for the world to see, to the chagrin of his family. The leg lamp is, well, shaped like a woman’s leg with black lace stockings and a black high-heel shoe.

“Our family was in Birmingham visiting our aunt and uncle, and after Thanksgiving dinner the whole family went to the movie to see ‘A Christmas Story,'” Allen said. “I remember my dad (retired oral surgeon Dr. Marvin Allen) and uncle laughing so hard at the movie. They said it reminded them of their era growing up.”

After Angie and Russ got married and had their first child, Russ found a company in San Diego that sold replica leg lamps.

“They cost a lot for a family that was just starting out, but Angie got me one that Christmas — and it was the only thing I got,” Allen said. “Like Ralphie says in the movie (about his Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle), ‘This is the best Christmas I had ever or would ever receive.’ Angie was so cool about it; we started putting it in the front window every year during Christmas.”

How much does Allen love that lamp?

“We moved into our house a few years back, and early morning on our first New Years Eve here, we had a house fire,” he said. “Angie still kids me because the first thing I grabbed to carry out of the house to safety was the lamp.”

Allen admits that there is a great deal of curiosity surrounding the lamp, especially among the uninformed who haven’t seen “A Christmas Story.”

“There are typically questions, a lot of curiosity and amusement about the lamp when people first see it,” he said. “But when they watch the movie, they’ll come by and say, ‘I get it now.'”

Allen said his family had fun inviting guests over for their quirky celebration this year and will most likely continue the updated tradition.

“We plan to continue doing this until Angie gets tired of it,” he said.

Oh, and just in case anyone might wonder: “Angie wants everyone to know that we decorate for Christmas like everyone else, and we don’t leave presents under the lamp.”

As if anyone would think … oh, a leg lamp Christmas … never mind.

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