The Christmas Post (featuring the Grinch)

I haven't been around recently due to finals, going home, etc. I've been really busy with things, like washing cars for spare change, carefully constructing Gastly profile pictures so that it looks like Gastly is taking over my profile,  and rereading the Artemis Fowl series while getting mildly emotional every time it looks like Artemis may just have a heart. YA books are wonderful. Currently, I'm waiting for my latest batch of ink cards to sit and dry while I listen to "The 99 most Essential Christmas Masterpieces" that I downloaded from Amazon for two dollars. Not even kidding. They're good recordings, too-- choirs and symphonies from Boston, New York, St Peter's, and lots of other places. I don't mean to sound like an advertisement, but seriously. It's awesome. Two dollars.

My family has a tradition of watching the 1966 version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas every year, and we just watched it last night. I now harbor a newfound love for the Who Song (Welcome, Christmas). And the Grinch Song, of course, but that goes without saying. There's something that's just perfect about the Who Song. Even though they get their presents back, they're happy without them, and while the human in me is cringing at the destruction that the Grinch has caused Whoville, they don't seem to mind at all. This actually seems to be a rare feature in most Christmas movies, which tend to involve some sort of appreciation for Christmas spirit after something good happens, or after the protagonist has learned some painful/touching/epic lesson about the meaning of sharing/love/happiness/Christmas/whatever. But the Whos are different; the only thing that happens to them in the movie is this:

1. They get ready for Christmas, like every year
2. They get absolutely everything taken from them
3. They wake up on Christmas morning and start singing, as usual
4. They let the Grinch into their singing circle
5. They get their presents back
6. They let the Grinch carve their roast beast

There is no questioning that he destroyed their town or that they have no food (seriously, Christmas spirit aside, wouldn't they have starved?), but they welcome Christmas anyway, seemingly without any notice to the current state of affairs, and welcome the Grinch just as gladly. There was no lesson; nobody was taken on a ghostly adventure to see how they should change their future, or presented with the dilemma of whether or not to accept that creepy old man as the real Santa Claus. They simply accepted Christmas and the Grinch, no questions asked. And they actually embrace him as they allow him to sit at the head of the table!

And the Grinch himself, while ostensibly a children's character of a mean old man with a heart two sizes too small and a soul full of "dirty socks" who decides to turn nice, actually represents even more for adults. The latest Glee episode had it right with the focus on the downfall of Christmas spirit that comes with growing up. The Grinch mentions something about how he has been witnessing Whoville like this "for fifty three years". He's turning into a Scrooge. Except that Scrooge had to be pushed out of his grumpy old man "I hate christmas" stage by external forces. The Grinch discovered it on his own, and changed on his own. Even his wonderful, cute, awesome, loving dog Max doesn't really help with that transformation. While it was the singing on Christmas Day that seemed to push him into the world of happy Christmases, there was no singing at the Grinch. The Whos were just singing, and he listened to it. And then his heart grew three sizes that day! 

I think that's why the movie/book is such a classic. (And why the Jim Carrey one was such a fail). The lesson happens almost spontaneously, seemingly without an instigator. That's important today, because if you don't have something magical and miraculous happen on Christmas day (like what happens in every Christmas story ever), then it's kind of up to you to make it happen. That's what the Grinch did, and it worked for him, and he's been a popular and iconic character now for over fifty years. So take a hint. 

I hope everyone had/has a wonderful Christmahanukwanzaakah and holiday break!