Random Roar: Christmas 2020
In 1957, Dr. Seuss published a children’s book titled How The Grinch Stole Christmas! and it was received favourably well, enough to inspire an animated special of the same name. Since then, it has been adapted several more times, although nothing beats the original animated special.
I probably don’t have to describe the story, but just in case I do, here’s a quick summary. A race of people known as the Whos celebrate Christmas in Whoville, but are pretty noisy in their celebrations. Sound carries very far in winter in this land, so the Grinch finds it hard to concentrate on anything with all the noise and decides he’s just going to steal Christmas and leave the Whos with nothing. He sneaks in overnight and takes everything because the Whos have no security systems and sleep very heavily, but when he’s about to dump everything off the nearest mountain to destroy Christmas once and for all, he hears the Whos singing their Christmas songs anyway, despite having nothing. Sound carries very far in winter in this land. The Grinch is moved by the Whos and their display of selfless love and begins to realize that he didn’t steal Christmas at all, and that perhaps there’s something to this holiday that he doesn’t understand, something more than just making noise and disturbing him. Reformed from his villainous ways, he prevents the material goods he stole from sliding over the mountain and rides into Whoville to give everything back. The Whos accept him without judgment and even invite him to Christmas dinner, thus showing that the Grinch was never an outcast except by choice.
Given who the story is aimed towards, and that Dr. Seuss apparently had trouble writing the ending, it’s probably accidental that he establishes with the Grinch’s noise complaints, that the entire area surrounding Whoville gets practically bathed in sound from their Christmas celebrations, and then calls back to that when the Grinch is able to hear the Christmas celebrations right before he’s going to dump the sleigh. It’s also possible the Grinch just has very sensitive hearing. Either way, How The Grinch Stole Christmas! is a triumph of storytelling and has gone on to become a beloved Christmas classic. It’s no accident that every adaptation after the original animated one has received mixed reviews, given the incongruity of all of the additional filler content needed to pad out the running time, although the 2018 film comes the closest to matching the original in both style and substance.
The message of the story, no matter which version you watch, is the same. Christmas isn’t what you buy from the mall on December 24th in an act of desperation to find something for your uncle who is very hard to shop for. It’s not what you put on your walls and it’s not what you wear or what you place under your tree. It’s not what you eat or what you drink. It’s not what you order on-line on Cyber Monday. Christmas can’t be cancelled, ever, not even if you’ve lost all of your material possessions through theft or misadventure.
That’s the bottom line, Christmas can’t be cancelled. Nothing will prevent Christmas from happening, and that’s a lesson we need to take to heart this year. COVID-19 is going to make it very hard to celebrate this year, especially since Dr. Seuss’s story specifies that Christmas will always come “so long as we have hands to clasp.” We might not be able to physically hold hands with our loved ones this year since travel is risky (and yet there are people who will travel anyway, whether or not it’s safe), but we live in a world that’s more connected than ever. Just a few years ago, Adam Conover pointed this out in an episode of Adam Ruins Everything focused on debunking myths about the Internet.
We currently have the infrastructure to video chat with friends and family and share Christmas despite being miles and miles away. We don’t need to attend a Christmas party in person this year, especially since it might not be safe to do so. With a laptop or a tablet phone, our loved ones can still be at our dinner table with us. Self-isolation for the sake of protecting family and friends is and always has been a temporary measure, and depending on what happens with the vaccines now beginning to be distributed, we may be able to go back to normal for next year’s Christmas celebrations. COVID-19 likely won’t go away completely by then, but we’ll be a lot safer. We’ll be able to carve a turkey in person and exchange ugly Christmas sweaters with each other. The malls will be packed as usual and we’ll unfortunately be competing for the hot new toy of 2021. It’ll be familiar and comforting. Normal.
Nothing about 2020 was normal, and nothing about Christmas this year is going to be normal, and that’s okay. It’s just one year. I do understand that not everyone will be with us in 2021. We lost loved ones this year that didn’t have to die, and we might lose loved ones next year, but I choose to believe that we’ll all be able to celebrate again in person in 2021, so we can afford to take 2020 off and self-isolate this Christmas. To paraphrase the late, great Dr. Seuss, Christmas will come in 2021, so long as we have hands to clasp.
About The Author
Joseph
Panthera Editus | In the great frozen land in the north known as Canada, a little to the east of that other frozen land in the north known as Alaska, resides the gaming enthusiast whom most people know as Joseph. When he’s not gaming or writing about gaming, he likes to enjoy life’s little ironies. Twitter
