For 9-year-old Micki Wallace, the Holy Grail of Christmas presents was a new television of her very own. To get it, she practically begged her parents and wrote letters to the Big Dogs of gift-giving: Santa and her grandmother.

The Red Ryder BB gun to Dallas Smith, 11, is a "Star Wars, All-Terrain, Tactical-Enforcer fighter with six legs and a cannon that shoots stuff." He simply takes his mother to the store over and over to stare at the box yet again.

And to 12-year-old Cara Weaver, nothing is more important this Christmas than a cell phone. She's probably the only girl at Dean Morgan Junior High not to have one, after all.

Weaver thinks it is this longing that has made "A Christmas Story" so popular for so long. For 25 years, the movie has been the gold standard of Christmas movies, the Red Ryder BB gun of Christmas presents.

"Every kid wants something for Christmas, that one thing that we all focus on," said Weaver who is busy crafting her own plans to get that cell phone. Lately she's playing the safety card: "What if I fall over while I'm walking and I can't call anyone for help?"

This weekend, the Casper Children's Theater will perform the play version of the Christmas classic. Written in 2000 by Philip Grecian, the play is based on the same stories of Jean Shepherd, the movie's narrator.

It's a bit tricky telling a story that everyone knows - and a story that almost everyone loves.

Director Gretchen Wheeler knows this.

She also knows that the stories are so universal, so timeless, that any telling of them is bound to strike a chord, somewhere, for anyone watching.

For her, the Red Ryder BB gun was a guitar. And the staircase Ralphie walks down to model his pink bunny suit is almost exactly like the staircase in her childhood home.

On Christmas mornings, her brother used to sneak into her room: "Come on. Let's see what Santa brought."

Then, she'd climb down the stairs and, for one second before her brother plugged in the tree, wait for Christmas to arrive.

"It just takes all of us, whether we are young or old, to a happy time," she said of the movie.

"It's that moment of hope, of thinking that maybe this year, Santa did come through."

Though the play expands on the movie, all of your favorite scenes will be there.

Flick licking and then sticking his tongue to the flagpole after the dreaded "triple dog dare." Shayna Shearer, 11, who plays Helen and Ester Jean, did that once with an ice cube. And yes, it did hurt.

The Old Man's major award gleaming "the soft glow of electric sex" from the Parker window. That's a favorite of Dylan Doherty, 11, who plays Ralphie in the upcoming play. Funny: He thought major awards were more like trophies.

And Ralphie, going blind from soap poisoning after saying "the queen-mother of dirty words, the "F-dash-dash-dash" That, incidentally, is Dallas Smith's favorite part. And yes, he's tasted soap. Kind of. "Well, I just put my teeth on it so I couldn't really taste it. But from the smell of it, I think it tasted really, really bad," he said.

This production is the largest the Casper Children's Theatre has ever tackled: It includes the entire Wallace family - Dob, Teresa, Graham, Will and Micki - and two other father-son sets - Steven and Jonah Spicher, and Dustin and Matthew Hills.The two-story set will be furiously worked on until opening night. And the kids used to the small stage in the Commissary Mall will get to act on the larger-than-life stage of the Kelly Walsh Auditorium.

"This is an incredible opportunity for the kids," said Steven Spicher, a Children's Theatre instructor and the narrator for this production.

As the narrator, Spicher gets some of the most memorable lines in the play, many of which his audience will have memorized.

How's he holding up to the pressure?

Well, that's a Christmas story in and of itself.

Believe it or not - and you just may not - Spicher has never seen the movie. He just never, ever, caught it even through the 24-hour marathons and Thanksgiving specials.

He's quite possibly the only narrator that will have the "advantage" of a fresh set of eyes.

"I'm a little nervous I'm not going to sound anything like Jean Shepherd," he said.

He can say that again.

Reach features editor Kristy Gray at (307) 266-586 or kristy.gray@trib.com.

'You'll shoot your eye out'

To promote their production of "A Christmas Story," the Casper Children's Theatre is sponsoring several contests, including a raffle of a replica of the 1938 edition of the Daisy official Red Ryder BB gun.

* BB Gun Memory Lane Contest: Audience members will vote on their favorite "My First BB Gun" stories and the winner will win a prize from the Children's Theatre.

* BB gun raffle: Tickets are $1 or six for $5. Drawing will be at the curtain call on Saturday. Proceeds go to the Children's Theatre scholarship fund.

* Trivia game: Beef up on your trivia on Ralphie, leg lamps and soap poisoning and test your knowledge on "A Christmas Story" quiz. Then use your keen listening skills to identify celebrity voices from the production. People who guess the right answers will be eligible for more prizes.

If you go …

* What: Casper Children's Theatre presents "A Christmas Story"

* When: Shows are 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday.

* Where: Kelly Walsh High School auditorium.

* Tickets: $8 adults, $5 children. Available at the Casper Children's Theatre in Commissary Mall, Sadler's Hallmark or Papa Murphy's Pizza.

* Information: Call 473-8470 or e-mail cct@casperchildrenstheatre.com.