Continuity mistake: When he shoots his gun, Ralphie's glasses are shown fallen on clean snow, but when he steps on them, the broken ones are shown on snow with quite a bit of debris.
Continuity mistake: When Ralphie beats up the neighborhood bully, the chain link fence hole area where the kids look through changes multiple times between shots, for example the vertical plant vine trunk disappears.
Continuity mistake: As the old man goes out to see the infamous leg lamp from the road, Randy is behind mom. A second later, the angle changes and Randy is suddenly in the adjacent window beside the lamp.
Continuity mistake: After Ralphie and Randy had gotten away from Farkus, Ralphie checks the mailbox for his decoder ring. After seeing that he was "skunked again", he closes the box, goes inside, and the camera pans to see Randy coming. If you look closely, the suit is totally free of any dusting of snow.
Factual error: Ovaltine stopped sponsoring Little Orphan Annie in 1940, and there is a date of 1940 stamped on the decoder Ralphie got in the mail. The Wizard of Oz was released in 1939. The movie setting, therefore, would have to be 1940. The chattering teeth seen in Miss Shield's desk weren't invented until 1949. (00:15:55 - 00:33:50)
Continuity mistake: After Ralphie's mother calls Mrs. Schwartz because of the F - - word, the narrator says, "Three blocks away, Schwartz was getting his." Yet at the beginning of the movie, when Ralphie leaves his house, he has only walked past 3-4 houses when Schwartz comes out to meet him and Flick.
Continuity mistake: Just after the fight between Ralphie and Farkus starts, there is a shot of the two from the side and already there is quite a bit of blood on Farkus's face. But then in a shot from over Ralphie's shoulder, there is no blood visible on Farkus's face at all. (00:57:35)
Visible crew/equipment: When dad hits the hubcap out of Ralphie's hands, as it spins, you can see the light rigs reflected in it.
Audio problem: When the leg lamp breaks, it makes a crashing sound like breaking glass, but then the wife asks "Jealous of a plastic lamp?" and it's obvious that the lamp is indeed soft plastic.
Continuity mistake: When Farkus grabs Schwartz and tries to make him say "uncle", the end of Schwartz's stocking cap is hanging loose in front of him. But in the following shot - showing Farkus throwing Schwartz to the ground - the end of the stocking cap is behind Schwartz's back. (00:23:00)
Other mistake: When the father "won" and he tells the family it was going to be sent "on tonight", he accidentally closes the door on one of the hound's ears. The dog starts moving up and down, which means the ear was thin enough to move around. If the ear was thin enough to move around, the dog could've just pulled itself out. (00:25:30 - 00:26:00)
Suggested correction: I'm sure the dog could have pulled itself out, however, that doesn't necessarily mean it would once it felt frightened from feeling its ear caught in the door. Dogs are funny like that, especially when they get scared. Sometimes they'll freeze and do little to help themselves even though they could. For some of them that's simply their survival instinct.
Continuity mistake: When Ralphie is deciphering the code, the 18 on the bottom line alternates between 18 and 8. 18 is the correct 8=X. (00:50:10)
Visible crew/equipment: When Ralphie comes into the kitchen, he passes in front of the camera. As he does so, you can see the shadow of the camera on him.
Other mistake: When dad comes home with the telegram saying that he won a "major award", look at the car. There is snow piled up on the top of the car, the windshields, and the hood, at least an inch thick. Even then, the hot engine would make the hood warm up, and in turn, melt at least some of the snow. And the windshields look like there was enough snow removed to guide the car, instead of removing as much as possible for safety. It looks like the car was simply pushed from off camera.
Continuity mistake: In Miss Shield's class there is a roll of scotch tape that is hanging over the edge of a box. A few seconds later, it's moved further on back of the box and not hanging over the edge as much.
Factual error: During the tongue on the flagpole scene, the police car that pulls up is a '46 or a '47 Chevrolet sedan. If this movie is supposed to take place pre-WWII, that car wouldn't have existed yet.
Audio problem: When Ralph and Randy are in line waiting for Santa, if you listen closely Santa keeps repeating the same lines like "And what do you want for Christmas, Billy?" "get him off my lap," "Santa can't wait all night let's go!" "HO HO HO!" but in the exact same tone, the child and Randy's screaming is also on repeat too.
Visible crew/equipment: As Santa's foot closes in on Ralphie's face to push him down the slide, the shadow on his boot is the squared light shade of the camera.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Ralphie's mom asks him what he wants for Christmas and he blurts out "a red rider BB gun" there's a spoon that moves from the table next to the plate, to on the plate in the next shot. (00:05:00 - 00:10:00)
Factual error: The narrator explains of the broken lamp that later that evening he (dad) would bury it next to the garage, however with that much snow and cold in December, the ground would be frozen and he would not be able to dig through it without some serious time, effort and equipment.
