Twenty-five years ago, my brother and I went to see “A Christmas Story.” Though reviewers panned it at the time, it became a hit with the two of us and millions of other Americans in subsequent years. It joined the pantheon of Christmas classics, ranging from “It’s a Wonderful Life” to “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “The Charlie Brown Christmas Special,” and “Frosty the Snowman.”

Most of us have these movies down for memory. We all remember Ralphie shooting his eye out, an angel talking George Bailey out of jumping off a bridge, Rudolph’s elf friend Hermey wanting to be a dentist, Charlie Brown being the director of a play, the Grinch stealing “Who Hash,” and Frosty coming to life when a professor’s hat it placed upon his head (if only that worked with some of my students).

Yet, for all their repetition every December, we seem to lose their lesson on Christmas Day. I’m not talking about forgetting to celebrate Christ’s birthday (we lost that one years ago). I’m referring to missing the meaning that it is even better to give than to receive, and the greatest gifts aren’t always wrapped in presents.

My wife told me she saw something where the average American family spends $800 on gifts during the holidays, but only five minutes playing with the kids outside. Sure some folks have it below freezing, but that’s what snowballs, sledding and ice skating are for. I tried to “mythbust” this, but found confirmation of this in the Boston Herald and other news websites.

Perhaps it is because we forget about the messages behind the humor. Everyone in our college’s trivia contest “knows” that Ralphie wanted “official Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock…” but how many of us noticed that as the film wore on, he got just a little closer to his family?

How many noticed that the Whos in Hooville had more fun singing than opening presents? Who remembers the importance of the biblical message in the Charlie Brown show? Does anyone recognize that Rudolph, Hermey and the misfit toys had to overcome discrimination?

Imagine if “Uncle Billy” hadn’t lost the money in Potter’s bank in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and things moved along smoothly for George Bailey. George would have gone through life with relative safety, not facing the anguish of losing the money, being threatened with jail time, fighting with his wife and children, getting decked in a bar, and eventually almost committing suicide. But at the same time, he would have never had the chance to have the people of Bedford Falls show their appreciation for all that he had done by bailing him out for change.

It may surprise you that “It’s a Wonderful Life” was a box office flop. “A Christmas Story” was booted from almost all theaters before Christmas even arrived. Rankin/Bass, which made the Rudolph story and so many other beloved Christmas classics, went dormant in the 1980s and was eventually bought out for their library by Warner Brothers.

Let’s make sure the lessons from these films don’t join them in the dustpile of our post-Christmas cleanup.