How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a Christmas story in rhymed verse written and illustrated by Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss). It was published in 1957 as a book by Random House and in Redbook magazine. The book criticizes the commercialization of Christmas.The Grinch is a bitter, cave-dwelling grouch with a heart "2 sizes too small" living on snowy Mount Crumpit with his loyal dog, Max, just north of Whoville, home of the merry Whos. From his steep perch, the Grinch hears the noisy pre-holiday Whoville festivities. Annoyed, he decides to stop Christmas from coming and steals their presents, trees, decorations and food, which he plans to dump off the mountain.
Expecting to hear bitter and sorrowful cries, instead he hears the Who's singing joyously on Christmas. It occurs to him that Maybe Christmas, means a little bit more than presents and feasting. His shrunken heart grows 3 sizes larger, he returns everything, and is invited to the Whos' celebrations. (In 2000, the book was adapted into a film starring Jim Carrey, and is on our Christmas "must-see" list.)
What does this story have to do with this post?
In the past few days, there's been news of some retailers staying open 24 hours or over 100 hours non-stop for last-minute shopping frenzies. CRAZY, we agree, BUT, as the Grinch learned,
- In PA, police officers reached out to help make Christmas merry for 10 children of officers killed or injured in the line of duty. The initial 10 kids bloomed to over 2 dozen in other states.
- At an Indiana children's hospital, "elves" decked out in pointy shoes and hats and red and green rappelled down the side of the 10-story building outside children's windows while the children waved and smiled; Santa made his rounds indoors.
- Children's Healthcare in Atlanta brought a snowy wonderland to all 3 of its hospitals at the same time in December. Despite 57-degree weather, it snowed for an hour outside hospital rooms surprising children being treated for cancer or awaiting heart transplants. The hospital hired Magic F/X, which works with Disney on snow shows. The company assembled over 30 snow machines with gallons of snow fluid on the hospital rooftops. The real-looking "snow" felt like cotton.
- Travelers at Toronto and Hamilton Airports shared Christmas wishes with a virtual Santa as about 200 WestJet employees listened via 19 hidden camera at the airports. After travelers boarded, employees hurried to make wishes come true. Upon landing, the carousel buzzer sounded as disembarking passengers didn't see luggage but snow falling and gifts from "Santa" with their names. Gifts included a "choo-choo" train, camera, a flight home for the holidays, even socks and underwear. (Last year, the Canadian carrier surprised passengers with a flash mob of singing and dancing elves.)
- In Joplin, MO, a Secret Santa gave Salvation Army kettle ringers a BIG surprise. As totals were counted, 5 checks of $10,000 each were found wrapped inside $1 bills. The responsible person(s) remain anonymous and over the past years have given nearly $500,000.
- NOCOShares (Northern Colorado Shares) delivered 350 Christmas trees (freshly cut or artificial if allergies) to families in need.
Believe . . . there are MANY folks helping Santa this year.
3 comments:
these are all amazing stories of love and the only one i knew about was the elves rappelling down the walls, saw that on TV and the children's faces looking out the windows was priceless. thanks for sharing Good News on God's day...
These are such great stories. We have a person in our area who is apparently donating his valuable coin collection as he gives a very rare coin every year. Their worth is in the thousands.
That's a wonderful set of examples for this time of year.
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