Contributing writer
I’m not sure whose idea it was, but somewhere in the planning of the Christmas party for the town of Ramona, I asked the committee members if they had any idea of who could be Santa. As the list of possibilities narrowed, the Grinch came to mind.
“What about having the Grinch come to Ramona instead of Santa this year?”
The Grinch! Yes! A splendid idea. This would be a very good year for the Grinch to come and steal Christmas; after all, it has been a difficult year in our town.
We’ve lost loved ones — important people in our community. In every town, there is always the threat that the Christmas spirit can be stolen because of misunderstandings and people not knowing how to resolve their differences —particularly in small towns where everybody knows everyone else. The Grinch it will be!
The funny thing about this story is that the person we decided to ask to be the Grinch, someone creative with acting ability and a sense of play, said they weren’t coming to the party at all. Shucks! On the day of the Christmas party, I asked the chairman, “Did you find a Grinch?” She shook her head no. Ramona was about to be Santa-less and Grinch-less, all in the same year.
“No, we’ll have something if I have to play the part myself,” I mumbled to my sister as she quizzed me about the to-do list.
There’s more than one creative person with acting ability and a sense of fun in a town of a hundred — in fact, we have quite a few.
As we were decorating the parish hall with linens and beautiful things, I sidled up to the youngest member of the City Council.
“Byron, you know the story of the Grinch, of course?”
He nodded affirmative.
“We need a Grinch. Will you be the Grinch this year? I have the costume and I’ll paint your face green.”
Our Christmas party was an RSVP occasion. We had a Super Slurpy Soup Contest going on and the place smelled delicious.
Kathy, who chaired the event, had white linen tablecloths and red and green linen napkins donated for our party. It looked beautiful in the parish hall, with Christmas plates and festive centerpieces.
It isn’t often that families sit down at a formal table to eat, with linen napkins. At one point, some teenagers called out to Jess.
“Where are the napkins?”
She explained they were cloth, setting beside their plate tied up with a bow.
“See, I told you,” another teen said with a nudge in the ribs to the one brave enough to inquire.
Don’t you think we should do meal formalities more often so that we have a chance to practice graciousness and good manners?
It has become a custom for Santa to show up on the fire truck with sirens blaring. This year, with snow, the kids stockpiled snowballs as a welcome. And Santa didn’t come. The natives began to get restless. When nothing happened after dessert, we called all the children back inside and I announced that something had happened to their presents. There was only one bag of extra, just in case, kind of gifts left under the tree.
One of the younger girls read the sign we found stuck on the side of the tree.
“Ha-ha-ha! I stole your presents! Signed, The Grinch,” Kiana read.
There was a moment of silence.
Right about then, the Grinch, green face and all, popped into the doorway.
“I’ve taken your gifts,” he cried. “Ha ha ha.”
What happened next, we didn’t anticipate. The older kids made a run for the Grinch (some of them play on the football team and looked formidable). The Grinch was in danger and we had to intervene to get the kids back into their proper role. There was nothing in the story I read suggesting that the kids in town tackled the Grinch and made off with all the goodies themselves; but Ramona kids weren’t going to just sit there. When we had calmed down the children, the Grinch had a chance to distribute “lumps of coal” (chocolate) to everyone at the party.
You know the rest of the story — the people in town sang Christmas carols and softened the Grinch’s heart, which was then filled with love and good will and he gave back the presents to the children, after all. (You supply the sound effects.)
“Aaaahhhh.”
Good story. Good party.
The lesson here, this Christmas season on another day in the country, is that if we maintain our cooperative spirit a grateful and loving heart that peace and good will are bound to follow whether it’s in Ramona or in Whoville.