How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

“If I can’t find a reindeer, I’ll make one instead!”

Christmas in our house wouldn’t be Christmas without the Grinch. I started reading aloud How the Grinch Stole Christmas! every year to my daughter, and now she reads it to me.

Dr. Seuss (whose real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel) published How the Grinch Stole Christmas! in December 1957, and the book has become a well-loved Christmas classic. Here are 10 things you may not have known about this holiday favorite:

1. The story also appeared in Redbook magazine at the same time the book was published.
2. Dr. Seuss dedicated the book to Teddy Owens, his niece’s son.
3. In the book, the Grinch is black and white (not green) with pink eyes.
4. Dr. Seuss grew up in Massachusetts, and Who-ville and Mt. Crumpit were inspired by East Hampton and Mt. Torn.
5. Dr. Seuss wrote the book for himself to rediscover the joy of Christmas. At age 53, as he recounted to Redbook, on December 26th one year, he looked into the mirror and saw a “Grinch-ish countenance.” No surprise, the Grinch is also 53.
6. The Grinch is the first adult (and first villain) to be a protagonist in a Dr. Seuss book.
7. The name “Grinch” first appeared in 1953 in the book Scrambled Eggs Super! when Seuss referred to the “Beagle-Beaked-Bald-Headed Grinch.”
8. Dr. Seuss had a hard time figuring out how to end the book but eventually settled on the Grinch carving the “roast beast” at the Who table.
9. The Grinch appears in two more books: Halloween is Grinch Night and The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat.
10. The license plate on Seuss’ car read “Grinch.”

If you haven’t already, read this book aloud sometime this holiday season, to enjoy a Christmas without ribbons and tags, one that comes “without packages, boxes, and bags.”