So I was reading ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ to my 3 yr old for the fiftieth time this week, and noticed that it was written in 1957, and Theodor Geisel was born in 1904. Which means he was 53 at the time. At one point, the Grinch says “Why, for fifty three years I’ve put up with it (Christmas) now.”
Skimpy, I know, but it made me wonder…
You said “fifty” four times,
but “three” only three,
and Grinch and Geisel
both start with a G.
Do you wonder?
Could it possibly be?
Did he even have a dog,
or ever a tree?
If doc’s work is his life
it wouldn’t surprise me.
He’d be hairy all over
and severely knock-knee,
and bulbous and knobbled
and thinner’n chimney–
but then I believe
the moon is green cheese.
We need more dope,
from unca cecil, for free.
Well, he was Jewish. Maybe he was thinking, “Oy vey! Why should I participate in this silly goyim tradition again?”
Yes! This always confused me as well. On a slight aside, does anyone know why Seuss wrote one of his most famous works on Christmas when he himself was Jewish? Did he just do it because he was a children’s author and most children were Christian?
Actually, many Jews do celebrate Christmas. True, they don’t consider the birthday of Jesus to be all that significant, but He was probably born in the springtime, anyway. What’s December have to do with that? On the other hand, there’s no reason that a person of any religion can’t celebrate a holiday of love and giving.
Besides, Jewish kids, like kids of all religions, will never pass up any opportunity to hit their parents up for presents 