Fans of 'A Christmas Story' Can Rent a Room in Ralphie's House
*By Kate Gill*
Childhood dreams do come true ー at the very least, they can be bought.
Since 2017, the third floor of the iconic Cleveland, Ohio, house that was the fictional home to the bespectacled hero of "A Christmas Story" has been rentable to fans of the classic movie.
And this year, the neighboring "Bumpus" house is also available to the more cantankerous among us for overnight stays.
Ralphie Parker's 1940s-era home was immortalized in 2006 by curator Steven Intermill, who partnered with owner Brian Jones to create a walk-through museum featuring props and memorabilia from the 1983 film.
"\[Jones\] thought this would a cool, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Intermill told Cheddar Big News.
Years later, the adjacent Bumpus property, home to Ralphie's fictional hound dog-loving neighbors, went up for sale.
According to Intermill, the Bumpus house has been modernized, but he and Jones "spent a lot of time trying to recreate the feel of the movie." Intermill added that certain rooms, like the kitchen, were updated for the guests' comfort.
Rates start at $395 for the Parker house and $195 per night for the Bumpus house and fluctuate with the season. Of course, Christmas Eve carries a higher price tag. According to Intermill, the price can run to a less-than-festive $3,000 a night.
The ["A Christmas Story" museum](http://www.achristmasstoryhouse.com/) and the Bumpus House are both [open](https://www.bumpushouse.com/) year-round.
McDonald's missed on both the top and bottom lines in its Q4 earnings, marking the fourth loss for the fast-food giant in the past eight quarters. It comes as higher costs from food to wages ate into the blue-chip company's profits. George Seay, CEO of investment advisor Annandale Capital, joined Wake Up with Cheddar to discuss the recent numbers and the better-than-expected success of the McPlant burger made with plant-based Beyond Meat. "They're changing with the times, and they have to," Seay noted. "You can just sell a Big Mac to everybody. There's a lot of people who don't want to eat a Big Mac anymore."
Business communication platform Slack, recently released its fifth wave of results from its global workplace survey from its Future Forum consortium, showing that the workforce has already moved to a split between working from home and going to the office. “We are now officially in the hybrid era of work,” Slack Future Forum VP Sheela Subramanian said when discussing the findings. "Hybrid is a work model where people can come into the office as well as work remotely, and what we're seeing is that the majority of knowledge workers are now in this arrangement — and that number is set to grow."
Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, founder of Strategy + Rest,
joins Cheddar News to discuss UK's pilot four-day workweek and its impact on workers' mental health.
Ed Gaussen, co-founder and CEO of Mantra Health, and Matt Kennedy, co-founder and COO of Mantra Health, joined Cheddar News to discuss the digital mental health startup's latest funding round and plans for the future.
Charles Platkin, executive director at Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center, joins Cheddar News to discuss how food insecurity affects our mental health.
Actor Sydney Sweeney, who plays Cassie Howard on HBO's "Euphoria, recently addressed how she feels about the stigma attached to nudity in acting for women versus men. Sweeney noted she also made a request to avoid doing unnecessary nude scenes, which was supported by series creator Sam Levinson.
Actor and singer Chrissy Metz, who stars as Kate Pearson in "This Is Us," is partnering with Capital One Auto Navigator to share her story of purchasing her first car to help make car buying easier for others. "For me, I know a car was so important because of course it took me to the auditions to get me to the place I have today," she said. "But it also means empowerment and freedom and accessibility, and I think everybody is deserving and in need of that." Metz also discussed the final season of her hit show, noting that expectations for the finale "will probably be exceeded."
