While I enjoy the film made from this book, having seen it so many times made the book a bit less remarkable. The book and film hold true to each other except that the film places all the occurrences in the same time frame, which worked really well for the film.
If you're a fan of the film, it may interest you to know that Peter Billingsley (Ralphie) played an uncredited role in the movie Elf. Here are a couple of links to commercials he was in as a child:
If you've not read the book or seen the film I suggest reading the book first and then seeing the film, of course.
