CHRISTMAS STORY
Disclaimer: Don't own TMR characters or Grinch charters.
"Okay honey, I'll tell you one of my favorites!" She smiled, going o to his bookshelf and pulling out a relatively old book, and coming to sit next to him on the bed. "This is called How the Grinch Stole Christmas." She smiled, opening it up to the first page.
"Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot…but the Grinch who lived just north of Whoville did not. The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season! Now please don't ask why, no one quite knows the reason. It could be his head wasn't screwed on just right, or that, perhaps, his shoes were too tight. But I think the most likely reason of all may have been that his heart was two sizes too small."
"What are Who's mum?" Alex interrupted.
"Who's are little people that live in the town of Whoville."
"What's the Grinch then? Wasn't he a Who too?"
"Some believe that he was a Who that didn't belong. That might be what's making him to mad at Christmas. Let continue shall we?" At his nod she turned the page slowly, showing him the pictures as she went.
She cleared her throat and kept going. "But, whatever the reason, his heart or his shoes, he stood there on Christmas Eve, hating the Who's. Staring down from his cave with a sour, Grinchy frown at the warm lighted windows below in their town. For he knew every Who down in Whoville beneath was busy now, hanging a mistletoe wreath. 'And they're hanging their stockings!' He snarled with a sneer. 'Tomorrow's Christmas! It's practically here!'
Then he frowned, with his Grinch fingers nervously drumming, 'I must find some way to stop Christmas from coming!'"
"I like Christmas."
"Me too." She smiled, turning the page again, showing him the picture of the Grinch staring down at the little town of Who. "For, tomorrow, he knew…All the Who girls and boys would wake up bright and early. They'd rush for their toys! And then…OH the noise! Noise! Noise! Noise! Noise! That's one thing he hated. The NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!" She yelled in a silly voice making Alex laugh as he saw the picture of the Who's playing with their toys, a big red drum, a train, and several other things that he had as well.
"I like toys." He mumbled, handing her the book back for her to keep going.
"Then the Who's, young and old, would sit down to a feast. And they'd feast! And they'd feast! They'd FEAST, FEAST, FEAST! They would feast on Who-pudding, and rare Who-roast-beast, which was something that the Grinch couldn't stand in the least. And then…they'd do something he liked least of all! Every Who down in Whoville, the tall and the small, would stand close together, with Christmas bells ringing. They'd stand hand in hand, and the Who's would start singing.
They'd sing…and they'd sing! And they'd SING, SING, SING! And the more the Grinch thought of this Who-Christmas-sing, the more the Grinch thought, 'I must stop this whole thing! Why, for fifty-three years I've put up with it now! I MUST stop this Christmas from coming…BUT HOW?' Then he got an idea! An awful idea! The Grinch got a wonderful, awful idea!"
"What's the idea?" Alex wondered, sitting up to try and peek at the page after, but Evie pushed him back onto the bed.
"We'll just have to wait and see now won't we?" She questioned, seeing him smile as she handed him the book to see the Grinch smiling with his finger in the air, signifying that he had had a revelation.
"Where was I? Oh yes. 'I know just what to do!' The Grinch laughed in his throat. He made a quick Santa Clause hat and coat. And he chuckled, and clucked, 'What a great Grinchy trick! With this coat and this hat, I look just like Saint Nick! All I need is a reindeer…' The Grinch looked around. But, since reindeer are scarce, there was none to be found. Did that stop the old Grinch?"
"Nope!" Alex chimed, crawling up onto her lap.
"No! The Grinch simply said, 'If I can't find a reindeer, I'll make one instead!' So he called for his dog Max. Then he took some red thread and he tied a big horn on the top of his head. THEN he loaded some bags and some empty sacks on a ramshackle sleigh and he hitched up old Max. Then the Grinch said, 'Giddap!' and the sleigh started down toward the homes where the Who's lay a-snooze in their town. All their windows were dark. Quiet snow filled the air. All the Who's were all dreaming sweet dreams without care when he came to the first little house on the square."
"Why not a circle?" He wondered, looking up at his mum.
"Well…I'm not sure. We'll have to ask a Who if we ever meet one won't we?"
"Yep."
"This stop is number one,' the old Grinch Claus hissed and he climbed to the room, empty bags in his fist. Then he slid down this chimney. A rather tight pinch. But if Santa could do it…so could the Grinch. The got stuck only once, for a moment or two. Then he stuck his head out of the fireplace flue where the little Who stockings all hung in a row. 'These stockings,' he grinned, 'are the first things to go.' So he slithered and slunk, with a smile most unpleasant, around the whole room, and he took every present! Pop guns, and bicycles, roller-skate, drums, checkerboards, tricycles, popcorn and plums. And he stuffed them in bags. Then the Grinch, very nimbly, stuffed all the bags, one by one, up the chimbly."
Alex huffed. "Well, that's not very nice now is it?"
"No, the Grinch wasn't a very nice fellow."
"Hence the name." He smiled up at her, then turned the page for her.
"Then he slunk to the icebox. He took the Who's feast! He took the whopudding; he took the Roast beast! The cleaned out the icebox as quick as a flash. Why, that Grinch even took their last can of Whohash! Then he stuffed all the food up the chimney with glee. 'And now!' Grinned the Grinch, 'I will stuff up the tree!' And the Grinch grabbed the tree, and he started to shove! When he heard a small sound, like the coo of a dove. He turned around fast, and he saw a small Who! Little Cindy-Lou Who, was not more than two. The Grinch had been caught by this tiny Who daughter who'' gotten out of bed for a cup of cold water. She stared at the Grinch and said, 'Santy Claus, why, why are you taking our tree why?' But, you know, that old Grinch was so smart and so slick he thought up a lie, and the thought it up quick. 'Why my sweet little tot,' the fake Santy Claus lied, 'There's a light on this tree that won't light on one side. So I'm taking it home to my workshop, my dear. I'll fix it up there, and bring it back here. And his fib fooled the child. The he patted her head and he got her a drink and he sent her to bed. And when Cindy-Lou Who went to bed with her cup, HE went to the chimney and stuffed the tree up!"
Alex yawned, climbing off her lap and getting under the blankets and letting her sit and read him to sleep.
"Then the last thing he took was the log for their fire! Then he went up the chimney, himself, the old liar. On the walls he left nothing but hook and some wire. And the one speck of food that he left in the house was a crumb that was even to small for a mouse. Then, he did the same thing to the other Who's houses. Leaving crumbs much to small for the other Who's mouse's! It was a quarter past dawn…all the Who's still a-bed, all the Who's still a-snooze while he packed up his sled, packed it up with their presents! Their ribbons their wrappings their tags! And the tinsel, the trimming and the trappings.
Three thousand feet up! Up the side of Mt. Crumpet, he rode with his load to the tiptop to dump it. 'Pooh-pooh to the Who's!' He watched Ginchishly humming. 'They're finding out now that no Christmas is coming! They're just waking up, and I know just what they'll do! Their mouths will hang open a minute or two, then all the Who's down in Whoville will cry BOO-HOO!' That's a noise,' grinned the Grinch, 'That I simply MUST hear!' So he paused. And the Grinch put his hand to his ear. And he did hear a sound rising over the snow. it started low. Then it started to grow…but the sound wasn't sad. Why, this sound sounded MERRY! It couldn't be so! But is WAS merry. VERY MERRY!
He stared down at Whoville! The Grinch popped his eye then he shook, what he saw was a shocking surprise. For every Who down in Whoville, tall and the small was singing. With no presents at all. He hadn't stopped Christmas from coming, IT CAME! Somehow or another it came just the same. And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling' How could it be so? It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages boxes or bags! The he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore. THEN! Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. 'Maybe Christmas,' he thought, 'doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more.'
And What happened then? Well…in Whoville they say that the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day. And the minute his heart didn't feel quite so tight, he whizzed with his load through the bright morning light and he brought back the toys! And the food for the feast! And he…HE himself! That old Grinch carved the Roast beast. The End." Evie finished, seeing that Alex was already sound asleep.
Leaning in to kiss him, she stood and placed the book back on the shelf remembering when Jonathan had given her the book for Alex, the only thing that she's remember from him that was thoughtful. He usually did it to get out of trouble. Sighing, she left the room, leaving the door open a crack, and back down the stairs she went to aid her husband in wrapping the rest of the presents. Christmas was her favorite time of the year, and sharing her favorite story with her son made it all that better.
"Mum, tell me a story!" Alex begged as he climbed into bed, his fuzzy pajamas keeping him warm. He was five, and he still didn't want her too ever stop telling him stories.
The End
Authors note: I know that the book wasn't written back then, but I just thought it was a really cute idea! Reviews please, I always like to hear from you guys!