The Old Man wins a "major award '' in a contest, which turns out to be a lamp in the shape of a woman 's leg wearing a fishnet stocking, which was derived from the logo for Nehi (pronounced "knee - high '') pop, a popular soft drink of the period. The Old Man is overjoyed by the lamp, but Mrs. Parker does not like it and a feud over it -- referred to by adult Ralphie as "The Battle of the Lamp '' -- develops and results in the lamp 's "accidental '' destruction. The Old Man also fights a never - ending battle with the malfunctioning furnace in the Parker home. His frustrations cause him to swear quite often, including one profanity - laden rant that the adult Ralphie says "is still hanging in space over Lake Michigan. '' Still another source of frustration for The Old Man is the dogs that belong to the next door hillbilly neighbors, the Bumpuses. The Bumpuses own "at least 785 smelly hound dogs '' that harass The Old Man whenever he comes home from work. On Christmas Day, the dogs ruin the family 's dinner by romping through their kitchen and eating their turkey. This results in the family having Christmas dinner at a Chinese restaurant instead. Ralphie and his friends Flick and Schwartz are tormented by the neighborhood bullies Scut Farkus and Grover Dill. Ralphie eventually snaps and beats up Farkus. Flick accepts a dare from Schwartz to stick his tongue onto the school flagpole. His tongue freezes onto the pole, requiring assistance from the police and fire department to free him. After getting a Christmas tree on the ride home, one of The Old Man 's tires becomes flat, so he goes to fix it. Mrs. Parker encourages Ralphie to help. When Ralphie flips the tire he says, "Oh Fudge! '' but he actually said the bad word. At home, Ralphie is given Lifebuoy soap in his mouth. His mother asks where he heard the word. He actually has heard from The Old Man every day but chickens out and says Schwartz. This leads to his mother calling Schwartz 's mother on the phone. For homework, Ralphie and his class are assigned to write on what they want for Christmas. Ralphie knows what he is going to write about: The Red Ryder BB Gun. He imagines the ultimate A+, but gets a C+, with Miss Shields writing, "You 'll shoot your eye out! '' on the paper. Ralphie, a fan of the Little Orphan Annie radio program, eagerly awaits the arrival of a decoder pin he has applied to receive. When it comes in the mail, he uses it to decode a secret message at the end of the day 's broadcast, but is disappointed to find it is only an advertisement for Ovaltine, the show 's sponsor.
who ate the turkey in a christmas story
the dogs that belong to the next door hillbilly neighbors, the Bumpuses