G is for Grinch. At our house, we watch Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, all year round. My youngest daughter loves it. Funny how this animated television special, came out when I was born, in 1966. Dr. Seuss wrote the book by the same name, back in 1957, and this was Dr. Seuss’s first book to later be adapted into a full-length feature film in the year 2000. I never anticipated that my children would want to watch certain TV shows and movies over and over again, especially this show, that is from my childhood. Fortunately, I like the Grinch too and still enjoy watching it and singing along.

My 2 daughters, my spouse and I sat watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas! a couple years ago in February, when my little girl was four. We hummed and sang, “You’re a mean one Mr. Grinch, you really are a heal. You’re as cuddly as a cactus. You’re as charming as an eel. Mr. Grinch. You’re a bad banana with a greasy black peel…” “You nauseate me Mr. Grinch.” Then my youngest exclaimed, sounding a little worried, “Whose Nausy and why did he eat him?” I love the great questions kids come up with. We talk about this story often as a family and it still makes us laugh.

As you probably already know, there are three versions of the Grinch story, the one mentioned above and two others. The second, is a live action version, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, directed by Ron Howard and starring Jim Carey made in 2000. This is not my favorite. To me the Grinch looks a little too creepy and the story feels a little dark. My youngest asked me turn it off near the beginning of the movie, while watching it at home. She tells me it is a little scary. The third version of The Grinch, was in theaters last Christmas.

My husband took my daughter, the Grinch fan, to see this new holiday flick before Christmas. He reports that the story stays true to the book and my daughter gives the movie a thumbs up. As he often does, Dr. Seuss leaves us with a great message at the end of his story, reminding us that one of the greatest joys of Christmas is singing and sharing a meal with friends and family. Sometime, shortly after the new Grinch was in the theaters, we watched the new version at home. So, the tradition continues, because you can’t watch The Grinch too many times.