The Grinch is one of America’s most iconic villains, right up there with the Joker and Darth Vader. Every year millions cheer as his plot to steal Christmas is foiled and he is forced to repent his previous criticisms of our nation’s jolliest holiday. But could there be another side to the story? As the holiday season comes to a close and we all float down from our tinsel-induced hysteria, perhaps it is time to give the Grinches of this world a chance to explain themselves.

Two LSHS students have bravely volunteered to do just that and defend their Bah Humbug spirit. Both students have been called a Grinch on multiple occasions. They have also bravely consented to be addressed by name, waiving the anonymity that we typically offer to students who speak up about issues as sensitive and controversial as this.

Junior Journey Scott described how Christmas for her is something of a hassle.

“Christmas is a time to spend with family, but also to give[…] it sounds like a good idea, but it’s hard because there are a lot of expectations from friends and from family. […] If you give one gift to a certain friend, the other friend wants one, and it never ends. This year I gave about 35 maybe 40 [gifts].”

These kinds of purchases add up, especially for high schoolers who often lack a steady source of income. Students like Scott end up facing the impossible task of getting through the holiday season without offending any of their friends or going bankrupt. It has somewhat soured the holiday cheer for Scott. She also points out that The Grinch may have had some legitimate reasons to hate Christmas.

“I mean the reason the Grinch hated Christmas was because everyone was mean. If you watch the movie, everyone was super mean to the Grinch and he even says in the movie, it’s all about the gifts, it’s not really about spending time with people anymore,” Scott said.

Junior Morgan Lee is also less than enthused about Christmas gift giving.

“I dislike how everyone gets so wrapped up in Christmas and buying presents for each other, and they get so wrapped up in all these things they feel they have to do. I don’t know, I feel like Christmas shouldn’t be so materialistic,” Lee said.

Another facet of the holiday season that Lee finds hard to stomach is the music. “It’s so annoying. It’s like the same songs over and over just with different singers and a few of them are ok, but then they over play them. […] After awhile it just gets ear-grating!” Lee said.

Lee tends to keep this unpopular opinion to herself.

“I usually don’t tell people that I don’t like Christmas music just because of the reaction that I get. I always get somebody who’s like: “What! You don’t like Christmas music? Who are you?” It’s not embarrassing, but it is hard to explain to other people why I don’t like [it]” Lee said.

Both Grinches had a few suggestions to fix what, for them, was amiss about the holiday season. “No gifts,” Scott said, getting straight to the point. Lee also suggested lessening the importance of shopping and gift-giving, suggesting that students choose instead to give the gift of their presence and use the holiday season to spend time with the people they care for. As far as the music goes, she is willing to take this one for the team.

“I don’t like the music, but a whole bunch of other people do, so I wouldn’t want to take that from people,” she said.

Many thanks to Journey and Morgan who argued their points with aplomb and perhaps even swayed some LSHS students to their cause. At the very least they’ve left us with several important questions to ask ourselves. What is the purpose of gift giving? How big a role should it play in the holiday season? Is Christmas music actually the worst?