How the Grinch Stole Christmas

I see. Often during this Christmas I found this book on the floor in my living room, and I just couldn't open it. We had a hard Christmas and I thought that opening that book would bring memories that I didn't know how to deal with at the time.  This morning, I see.

In the book, the Grinch is jealous of everything in the village. He doesn't like the singing. He doesn't like the decorations. He hates the happiness that he sees and he does everything he can imagine to try to bring a close to that happiness.  He takes their tree, the presents, the packages, bows.  He even takes their last piece of roast beast!  He thinks that in taking all these things from the people in the village that he will finally find happiness himself because the village will be void of all those things that he thinks bring them happiness.

Think about the story from the point of Cindy Lou Who.  She stands by, watching this Grinch. She doesn't get it. She can't understand and she is told lies about what he is doing. She questions why and it only makes that Grinch madder. He gets meaner and it drives him to make sure that he takes everything from that little girl.

But Christmas morning comes. The people don't have much left. I don't know how they ate. They didn't have a present to open. They didn't have a party to go to. But it didn't stop them from singing and celebrating. The poor old Grinch got through Christmas and what did he hear - the people in whoville didn't stop singing - they sang just the same.  He didn't stop Christmas from coming it came!

The poor jealous Grinch realizes that Christmas isn't bought in a store. The families of Whoville love each other and they worked together through hard times. They hung in there, and questioned why and wondered. In the dark about what was going on even right around them, they didn't really know and couldn't see because they were kept in the dark.  But Christmas came. They rallied together and sang. They realized that Christmas wasn't about the packages, tinsel and bows. What happened in the month after Christmas in Whoville?  Life went on. They picked up the pieces of what was left, and it bonded them together tighter, realizing that life isn't about things. That you don't know who you can trust and that we need to fortify our family so that when hard times come we have a way to support each other through. Cindy Lou Who found someone to sing with and it wasn't the Grinch, but she sang just the same.

This fits my family so well this year. We had huge distractions during Christmas time that demanded attention so much so that we didn't get to do gifts, Christmas Cards and bows like we like to.  We usually find a service project to do, this year, our service project was consumed by the Grinch mess.

Christmas came and we sang. We didn't get all that we like to done, but that didn't matter. We had a beautiful Christmas just the same!  Christmas came and we will remember it as a difficult year. A year that we witnessed jealousy and greed up close and personal. We asked questions and tried to guess why the Grinch of our Christmas was so upset while he tried to tell us that we were the problem and that we really shouldn't be happy because... he just can't tell why.  Guess what Grinch?  Maybe Christmas and Family mean a little bit more!  Maybe Family can't be bought in a store. Maybe family isn't about jealousy at all!

I will not ever really understand what happened in the Grinch heart, it was two sizes too small. But I will understand that what Cindy Lou Who exemplified was that family is what really matters.

Wow.  I dreamed this and had to get up quick to record it.  I see that we lived that story this year.  Nice job whoville!  Christmas came just the same!  Let's fortify our family so we can be ready the next time that old Grinch decides to take aim our way!  Let's prepare as Moroni and the scriptures we have been reading.

Alma 46:6 Thus they were led away by Amalickiah to dissensions, notwithstanding the preaching of Helaman and his brethren, yea, notwithstanding their exceedingly great care over the church, for they were ^ahigh priests over the church.

 7 And there were many in the church who believed in the^aflattering words of Amalickiah, therefore they ^bdissented even from the church; and thus were the affairs of the people of Nephi exceedingly precarious and dangerous, notwithstanding their great^cvictory which they had had over the Lamanites, and their great rejoicings which they had had because of their ^ddeliverance by the hand of the Lord.

 8 Thus we see how ^aquick the children of men do ^bforget the Lord their God, yea, how quick to do ^ciniquity, and to be led away by the evil one.

 9 Yea, and we also see the great ^awickedness one very wicked man can cause to take place among the children of men.

 10 Yea, we see that Amalickiah, because he was a man of cunning device and a man of many flattering words, that he led away the hearts of many people to do wickedly; yea, and to seek to ^adestroy the church of God, and to destroy the foundation of ^bliberty which God had granted unto them, or which blessing God had sent upon the face of the land for the ^crighteous’ sake.

 11 And now it came to pass that when Moroni, who was the ^achief commander of the armies of the Nephites, had heard of these dissensions, he was angry with Amalickiah.

 12 And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—^aIn memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole.

 13 And he fastened on his head-plate, and his ^abreastplate, and his shields, and girded on his armor about his loins; and he took the pole, which had on the end thereof his rent coat, (and he called it the ^btitle of liberty) and he ^cbowed himself to the earth, and he prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, so long as there should a band of ^dChristians remain to possess the land—

 14 For thus were all the true believers of Christ, who belonged to the church of God, called by those who did not belong to the church.

 15 And those who did belong to the church were ^afaithful; yea, all those who were true believers in Christ ^btook upon them, gladly, the name of Christ, or ^cChristians as they were called, because of their belief in Christ who should come.

The Grinch needed a family. He was jealous and sought to destroy as did Amalickiah. This reoccuring theme repeats itself way to often in our world! Jealousy and greed are opposite of love, tenderness, hope and peace!  Don't be fooled. Don't let that Grinch in!!!!