By Kelli Bowen
It’s that time of the year: holiday movie season! I always watch “It’s A Wonderful Life” while I decorate for Christmas, usually the day after Thanksgiving. Seeing the community rally around George Bailey when he felt like he was at his lowest, tears me up every time.
“Attaboy Clarence!”
Another Christmas staple in my life is Dr Seuss’ “How The Grinch Stole Christmas.” I’m talking the glorious 26-minute 1966 version with Thurl Ravenscroft singing and Boris Karloff voicing the Grinch.
Some people think the Grinch is not a happy enough movie or character, but I say it’s one of the most magnificent transformation stories in cinema. Let me tell you in that 26 minutes the Grinch went from “Hate, Hate, Hate, Hate” to heart growing three sizes, blue-eyed, the real-meaning-showing-through, set things right, Christmas lover.
The story of the Grinch is a dude who doesn’t like all the STUFF. All the clutter and junk clogging up the day. He hates all the noise. As an over-stimulated, and constantly feeling pressure to “keep up” mom and woman, I FEEL this.
Yes, he went a teensy-bit drastic on his solution to the problem, but that moment when he realizes that Christmas isn’t about the packages, boxes, and bags, he went out to right his wrongs. Who doesn’t like a good redemption arc?
I mean COME ON people! If the Grinchy old Grinch can completely change his perspective in under a half hour, there’s gotta be a little hope for the rest of us.
Whatever holiday tradition you are into, I wish you cheer and less noise this month. The next time you decide to hit the holiday movie streaming list, my I suggest “The Grinch.” Although Miss E likes the 2000 version starring Jim Carrey, Miss A refers to the 2018 full-length animated movie as “the normal one.” I don’t think you can go wrong with the classic original story of the Grinch.
Kelli makes her home in Billings County with her husband, two daughters and a dog. She works for North Dakota's #1 tourist destination by day and tries to be an alright mom, wife, friend, and writer by night.
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