Editor's Column

by Allison Brandow

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Gifts Appear in Arms
of a Suessman

Around my house, the Christmas season often begins when a wrinkly bright green character appears in the hallway. The one-foot tall fellow is decked out in a Santa hat and coat. He sits by the closet door staring toward the kitchen and holding some surprise.

It's the Grinch. And always, perched a foot or two away, is his similarly stuffed dog, Max. They come to announce Christmas to my family in a way no one else can.

Unlike in the movie, our Grinch is generous. Each of the 12 days before Christmas, he arrives with gifts, 12-days-of-Christmas style.

On Dec. 13, the little stuffed Seussman brings 12 gifts. Perhaps the gifts are 12 Lifesaver rolls or 12 hair ties. But the Grinch hides them around the house so that my sister and I have to search to find them all.

On Dec. 14, the scheme repeats, except the Grinch hides only 11 gifts. Again, we look high and low to outsmart the Grinch in his sneakiness.

And so the little game continues through Christmas Day.

As a child, I was never one who believed in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy. Neither am I naïve about the identity of our green Grinch.

My dad, the wonderful guy that he is, can't hide behind an imaginary character. How do I know?

It's simple. First, Dad was also our Tooth Fairy, and the two characters shared many attributes: absentmindedness, forgetfulness and affinity for treasure hunts.

Second, Dad gets up the earliest, so while we are still in bed, he hides the gifts before leaving for work.

Third, no one thinks up better random gifts than Dad does.

On some December days, the Grinch isn't awaiting us in the hallway. Instead, he's perched on the back of the couch in his between-gift-givings spot. No candy, no toys, no pencils or jewelry. The Grinch forgot to bring anything.

The next day, however, the Grinch appears again, bringing the gifts he should have brought the day before. Our "12 days of Christmas" is a day behind. That means we'll get our last gift on Dec. 26.

On other days, clearly the Grinch forgot his nightly duty, but he made do with something handy. One time when this happened, we received five rocks from our front yard.

The Grinch is talented at hiding the gifts he brings. Although he or Max always holds one of the objects (so we know what to look for), he places the rest in nooks and crannies around our house.

If Max's nose is pointing toward the kitchen, we know where the Grinch hid the gifts. A walk from the dining table to the pantry usually reveals the obvious hiding spots. Then we begin the search in earnest.

All the cupboard doors and drawers come open. We pull out the bowls and pots, glancing in and around them.

We check the oven, the stove, the pantry, the refrigerator and the lights. The Grinch might have hidden the objects under the sink, in the dirty dishes or in a rolled-up towel.

After a few minutes of searching, we reconvene to count our booty. Usually, the count falls short of the number of items hidden, no matter if we're on Day 12 or Day Four.

So we return to our hunt, stomping on the floor and picking up the rugs. We stand on chairs to check the top of the fridge. We repeat our previous search, hoping that we missed something.

Most days, we cannot find all the gifts. The Grinch is too good at hiding them. So we check with Mom, who sometimes serves as Dad's helper. Or we wait for Dad to come home, and then he pretentiously consults with the Grinch about the location of the last gift.

One time, the Grinch brought us eight hair barrettes. They were blue, black, light brown and dark brown, all colors that blended well with the décor in our living room. We searched everywhere, but only found seven of the barrettes.

The Grinch was no help that time. He couldn't remember where he had hidden the last barrette. We found it accidentally weeks later.

Our tradition of Grinch gifts remains one of my favorite parts of the holiday season. Even if I'm running off to classes or my sister is sleeping in, we take time to search together and share the experience.

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