Of love and forgiveness

He’s green but he isn’t the Hulk. He’s hairy yet he is no King Kong. He’s crazy, but crazier than the Mask. And he hates Christmas. He is the Grinch who lives atop Mount Crumpit with his loyal dog Max. How he got there and why on earth he hates Christmas is the reason for you, little children, to listen to this little story I have to tell you.

Inside a little snowflake brought by the Christmas wind is a little town called Whoville. For the townsfolk, nothing can beat the Christmas season and so they wasted no time and effort in decorating their houses with thousands of Christmas lights and sending hundreds of gifts to friends and relatives. Everyone is in a festive mood especially since they’ll be celebrating the one thousandth Whobilation that year.

Everyone is, except for the Grinch (Jim Carrey). No one knows exactly why he hated Christmas, but an encounter with the Grinch himself showed little Cindy Lou Who (Taylor Momsen) that maybe the Grinch wasn’t that bad after all.

Cindy Lou was a sweet, innocent little girl who thought Christmas shouldn’t only be about extravagant decorations and superfluous gifts. She thought that, while giving gifts was a gesture of goodness, her fellow Who’s merely gave gifts and did not really understand the reason for giving these things at all. Also, she was the only one who saw the little good left in the Grinch when he saved her from being sorted by a sorting machine (which the Grinch wouldn’t accept as a good deed). While it’s true that the Grinch’s heart was two sizes too small, anyone who had a heart, no matter how small it was, he still had one.

It turned out that the Grinch had an unpleasant experience with the Who’s when he was still small like Cindy Lou. As a child, he was already green and hairy, but nevertheless caught the eye of a classmate named Martha May Whovier (Christine Baranski). It happened that Augustus Maywho (Jeffrey Tambor), the mayor of Whoville, had a crush on Martha May, which brought him in not-so-good terms with the Grinch. During a Christmas party, the Grinch brought Martha May a homemade yet well-crafted gift, but came to the party in a half-job shave, making him the laughingstock of his classmates. The fury and rage in him brought the Grinch on top of a mountain near Whoville and there he lived hating every Who there was and every Christmas that came.

Every Whobilation marks the search for the year’s holiday Cheermeister who will become Whoville’s person of the festivity. Cindy Lou nominated the Grinch who, not without any objections, won the award. The Grinch came to accept the award but the night’s festive, joyful mood came to a halt when he was presented a shaver as a gift. Memories of the past came flooding back again to the Grinch and the night ended in a disaster.

Whoville nevertheless tried to celebrate the occasion despite the ravage brought about by the Grinch. It turned out that the town had a spare Christmas tree (the Grinch burned the first one they had during the chaos earlier) and they gathered around it while singing holiday songs. The Grinch, disappointed that Christmas went as usual down in Whoville, went to the town that night crudely dressed as Santa Claus, and stole every gift and decoration there was. The next morning, the whole of Whoville woke up devoid of anything that would remind them that it was actually Christmas that day. The mayor pointed a finger to Cindy Lou, blaming her for bringing the Grinch back to Whoville. But her father stood by his daughter. He said they don’t need Christmas decorations or gifts to celebrate Christmas; all he needed was his own family.

Meanwhile, high above Mount Crumpit, the Grinch’s heart miraculously grew bigger after doing a genuinely good deed. Just as everything was going fine, Cindy Lou suddenly appeared on top of the mountain, seriously in danger. The Grinch was able to save Cindy Lou and the town of Whoville finally accepted the Grinch back again. Together, they celebrated Christmas with songs and feasts and lived happily ever after.

Thus, we learn that the true meaning of Christmas is giving love and forgiveness. It isn’t just about the gifts and presents we give and receive, it’s also about doing good deeds to others. Thus, its true meaning lies within us.