December 26, 2011
It’s because I’m green, isn’t it?
Christmas sneaked up on me this year. Quietly, at first. Then at my shoulder, gave me a whack as if to say, “Boo!”
Dr. Seuss wrote a story once on ‘How the Grinch stole Christmas’. It’s the story of a bitter creature with a heart two sizes too small who hates the holidays. One Christmas Eve he plots to steal Christmas by going to each house, stealing their gifts, food and decorations. He thought that by taking away the form of Christmas, he could make the festivities stop and basically ruin this special day for everyone in Who-ville.
Then he went up the chimney, himself, the old liar.
On their walls he left nothing but hooks and some wire.
And the one speck of food that he left in the house,
Was a crumb that was even too small for a mouse.Dr. Seuss
Today I had the same nightmare I’ve been having all week. Waking up to a house that the Grinch robbed on Christmas morning. Like someone climbed down my chimney, stole every present under the tree, took every stocking I hung out, ate my last can of Who-hash, stuffed my beautifully decorated tree up the chimney and didn’t have the decency to leave even an inch of tinsel behind.
In the story, the Who’s continue to celebrate Christmas even after their town was robbed blind by the Grinch simply because they know, you can never truly steal Christmas spirit. What matters during Christmas isn’t the decorations or the fact that Jesus wasn’t actually born on Christmas day or that no Christmas carolers came to the house. It’s being with the people that matter the most to you. More importantly, having the spirit is a choice not reliant on circumstance.
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. And he puzzled and puzzled ‘till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.
Dr Seuss
In my dreams they told me not to think about my Grinch. I tried to forget it. I tried making a choice to move on. And I’m getting there. But nobody gets over a robbery overnight. It’s too soon. I could push his ugly face out of my mind for a while, but here behind these closed doors, he comes back for me. To remind me how much less of a Who I am. To remind me of what he’s taken from me.
Guess for me it’s now a journey to forgive my Grinch.
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matthew 6:14-15
Damn. I want my Christmas back. But I can’t get that. So I’ll settle for having an awesome New Year. I am NOT taking this nightmare into 2012.
“To err is human, to forgive, divine.”
Alexander Pope
Maybe Christmas, is about something a bit more
Side note: Never, ever, ever go to the malls on Christmas Eve. You’re not the only one doing last minute shopping and next time you may be fined for illegally parking.
Thinking of: MI:4 in IMAX, Celine Dion’s A New Day, violently cute nieces and nephews, the seemingly endless parking in Sunway Pyramid, Tom Cruise’s nice hair, the day when this nightmare will be over and the possibility of achieving all my resolutions in 5 days. Challenge Accepted.
