**Warning – Spoiler Alert**
For those of you who may have been hiding under a rock since, oh, forever and have never read the book or seen either if the movies, here it is in a nutshell.
The Grinch lives on a mountaintop over the village of Whoville, where all the Whos live. Every year he can hear them singing and making merry around the Christmas season he sees them running around, erecting the huge Christmas tree in the middle of town and basically all of the hustle and bustle that comes along with the season.
The Grinch hates Christmas. He hates everything it represents and involves. He thinks that it is all about the gifts and food and all of the merchandising that goes with it. He grinches about it to his faithful little dog, Max.
Eventually, he decides that he will put an end to Christmas once and for all. He scrounges an antler which he then straps to Max’s head (it weighs more than Max does) and then scrounges a “Santa” shirt for himself and then attaches Mac to a sleigh that holds a huge empty bag.
Bet you can guess where this is going.
He waits until Christmas Eve night when all of the Whos in Whoville are asleep and then has Max pull the sleigh down the mountain. He then proceeds to go through all of the Whos’ houses and steal all of their Christmas. Gifts, trees, decorations and yes, even the roast beast.
The smallest Who, Cindy Lou Who wakes up and thinks that he is Santa but he placates her and puts her back to bed.
Once he has cleaned out all of the Whos’ houses, he heads to the center of the town and steals the town tree.Mission accomplished, he has poor little faithful Max pull the sleigh back up to the top of the mountain where the Grinch eagerly awaits Christmas morning thinking that it will be nice and quiet for once…with maybe a few sobs thrown in for good measure.
Well, Christmas morning arrives shortly, the sun peeking over the mountain making all of Whoville sparkle since it is all covered in snow. The Grinch is eagerly anticipating the reaction of the Whos.
The Whos wake up and find everything gone. They all head out and end up at the town center where the big tree had been just hours before. Linking hands, they all begin to sing Christmas songs, swaying back and forth and being thankful for the day.
As the Grinch hears the singing he realizes that it all isn’t about the marketing and all that it entails. It is about so much more. As the realization takes him, his heart grows three sizes and he takes all of the Whos’ Christmas stuff back. They welcomed him with open arms and the Grinch himself carved the roast beast.