A/N I own only my OC and any other unrecognizable characters; the rest is owned by Dr. Seuss and Universal Studios.

Inside a snowflake, like the one on your sleeve,
There happened a story you must see to believe.
Way up in the mountains, in the high range of Pontoos,
Lay the small town of Whoville: the home of the Whos.

Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot.
But the Grinch, who lived just north of Whoville, did not.
And yet someone else shared his opinion and so was misfit;
This was, surprisingly, a Who named Winnie Dorothy Whit.

Winnie was indeed a Who, who didn't like Christmas as much as her fellow Whos. And this wasn't so much of a crime as it was a very rare, unnatural occurrence that most Whos, if not all, thought was the strangest thing since the day the Grinch first came to Whoville.

Winnie was sometimes considered strange by her Who peers of Whoville. She never "grew into her nose," and that was considered odd already. And her coming to hate Christmas, the most beloved holiday of Whos, caused her to become as much an outcast as the Grinch, whom she befriended as a child. She disappeared the day after Christmas, and for years was never heard from.

But tabloids said she was spotted up in Mt. Crumpit, once with the Grinch, who was a somewhat-urban legend himself. But she wasn't with him as prisoner; they looked almost like roommates.

But why would she be up in Mt. Crumpit with the most disliked creature the Whos knew? And how did she become like him, hating Christmas?

That is a story you must read to believe…and it's time you've begun…

Winnie didn't originally live in Whoville. When she was a young Who, she and her parents lived in a large city a long ways away from Whoville called New Who City. They celebrated Christmas in a less "outrageous" manner than those in the smaller village of Whos and the larger city they called home. They picked out and decorated a Christmas tree, baked a big Christmas dinner, and each exchanged one gift for each other on Christmas morning, which gave Winnie and her parents two gifts each. They weren't poor, but they weren't rich either; they simply didn't waste money.

Her aunt and uncle, and her two cousins as well, lived in New Who City, and her grandparents in Whoville. They always sent a card, wishing them a merry Christmas, and asked if they would ever visit Whoville and witness their Christmas festival: the Whobilation. Winnie's parents always declined, saying it was too far away, and money didn't grow on trees.

But her aunt disagreed. "It's only an hour's train ride away," She said one day, a week before Christmas. "And Robert and I could chip in a bit of money for tickets to Whoville. And Mum and Dad as well. Besides, it'll be good for Winnie, and you two as well, to have a nice Christmas vacation to a smaller town."

"Besides," Robert added. "I hear the Whobilation is something worth seeing once in a lifetime for Whos living outside of Whoville. Winnie will love it."

"And she hasn't seen Mum and Dad for so many years." Winnie's aunt, Angelina said.

After some more insistence, some from little Winnie herself, her parents, Rachel and Abraham, decided to do something that Christmas: visit Whoville.

With Robert and Angelina's help, they bought three train tickets, and on the evening before Christmas Eve, boarded a train for Whoville.

Winnie was jumping in her seat, eager for the train to take off. She was a darling girl, with red hair in two large twists on either side of her face, and gray eyes sparkling with innocence and glee. Brown freckles danced across her chubby cheeks and round nose. She was dressed in a green dress with red ruffles under her skirt and on her sleeves, and had a headband with a silver bow on top of her head. She had turned six years old just the previous month, and hadn't seen her grandparents for four years. So she was excited, to say the least.

"When's the train gonna go, Mama? When's the train gonna go, Papa" She asked repeatedly.

"It will go when it's ready, Winnie." Abraham chuckled, patting her head. "Practice patience."

Winnie knew the family motto by heart: practice patience, and things will come faster than you think. And when she found she was asking herself when something will happen, or urging something or someone to hurry up, she tried to remember to practice patience.

Finally, the train whistled loudly. Winnie covered her ears with a jump. Then, the train seemed to jump forward, pause, and finally roll out of the station. Squealing with joy, the young Who crawled to the window, sat up on her knees, and waved at the Whos on the station, giggling when they waved back.

"Winnie, sit down." Her mother urged her. "Or you may fall to the floor.

"Yes, Mama." Winnie nodded, sitting down next to Rachel, swinging her little legs over the edge of the seat, admiring her white socks and black Mary Janes. "Mama? When'll we get to Whoville?"

"In an hour, I'd wager." She said, checking her watch. "Which will be at about seven o'clock."

Winnie looked at her mother's watch, which was a minute past six o'clock. She didn't fully understand time yet, and so only knew that an hour was long. Sighing, she sat back and stared out the window, fascinated by the passing scenery. She found it interesting how trees that were closer to the train flew by in a blur, but the mountains in the distance barely moved at all. It was lightly snowing, yet she could barely see the flakes.

Christmas time was near, one of her favorite times of the year, next to her birthday and the first day of snow. She loved the snow, and doing snow-related activities at the park: making snowmen, having snowball fights with her kindergarten playmates, making snow angels, or simply walking in the snow with her parents. To her, winter was the most wonderful time of the year; plus, it housed one of her favorite holidays, which made it even better.

One hour, to adults, seemed fast, or at times like the snap of fingers. But to a child, it felt like a much longer time. When they hear it would take an hour to drive to a place, or an hour for a desert to bake, they would moan and mumble that it would take forever. And Winnie was no exception. All the way to Whoville, she asked her parents if they were there yet. Despite the family motto of practicing patience, her parents' patience was wearing thin. Abraham suggested Winnie take a nap to pass the time. Despite her insistence that she wasn't tired, she fell asleep in her mother's lap in due time.

It seemed like she barely closed her eyes when Rachel was shaking her awake. "Winnie, wake up," She said. "We're here."

"Where?" Winnie asked, rubbing her eyes. Then, she remembered why they were on the train; why she had been kicking her legs, pestering her parents, and napping for an hour's wait. She looked out the window, and saw the train had pulled into and stopped at a train station of another place. This place was much smaller than back at home, but was full of snow, Christmas decorations, and Whos of all ages and sizes.

"Hooray! We're in Whoville!" She jumped off of the seat and ran out the train, ignoring her parents' cries to stop. She jumped onto the platform, pushing past other leaving passengers, and gazed at the new place. Her gray eyes sparkled with joy, and she spun around to get a better view.

"You spin too much, and you'll get dizzy." An elderly voice said.

Stopping, Winnie looked to see two old Whos smiling down at her. "Hi." She said. "Who're you?"

"My name is Dorothy," The elderly woman said. "And this is my husband, Luka."

"What's your name, dear?" Luka asked.

"Winnie Dorothy Whit!" She heard her parents yell angrily. She spun around to see them approaching her quickly. "Don't ever run from us again! You could have been trampled or hurt!"

"Sorry, Mama and Papa." She pouted, clasping her hands behind her back and rocking on her heels.

"Thank goodness you caught her, Mum and Dad." Abraham sighed.

Dorothy crouched down to Winnie's eyelevel, smiling wider. "Remember us, Winnie? We're your grandma and grandpa."

Grinning widely with delight, she hugged her newly-discovered grandmother tightly. "Hi, Grandma! We came on a train!"

"We can see that," Her grandfather nodded. "Was it fun?"

"Yeah!" She nodded, turning to hug him. "It was fun, but it took foreeever to get here."

"Well, you're here now," Dorothy chuckled. "Welcome to Whoville. It's probably much smaller than what you're used to."

"It's not as busy or crowded." Rachel nodded.

"Wait 'till tomorrow," Luka sighed. "Then it's like a mini-New Who City."

"During the Whobilation?" Abraham asked.

"Precisely."

Abraham and Luka briefly left to pick up the luggage from the baggage car. "The car's this way." He led the group of five to a large car with a closed trunk and open roof. They put the luggage in the trunk of the car, and everyone piled in. "It won't take long to get home," Luka said, in the driver's seat. "We have a couple of guest rooms. So, just enjoy the scenery along the way."

All the way to her grandparents' house, which took twenty minutes, Winnie looked around with wide eyes, smiling ear-to-ear. "Winnie, don't turn your head so fast," Rachel cautioned. "You'll hurt your neck. We'll be here for a couple of days after Christmas, so you'll have plenty of time to explore."

"When you're old enough, you can move here if you'd like." Abraham added.

Winnie barely heard anything her parents said, but she did slow her head-turning down. The streets were filled with Whos shopping around and decorating poles and buildings, and chattering about the upcoming holiday. She waved at them, giggling when they waved back.

"Everyone here's friendly, huh?" Rachel smiled.

"Whos here'll say 'hello' to anyone, even a stranger." Dorothy said.

Winnie saw not only adults, but Who children her age and up, running up and down the sidewalks, laughing and talking with their friends. Some were just leaving Who school.

She blinked when she saw something peculiar: a Who child that looked about her age…or what looked like a Who child; he wore a school uniform like the other children, but had green skin, and darker green hair and fur on his entire body save for his face.

She rubbed her eyes and looked again, but he was gone by then. "Mama? I saw a green Who boy with green hair and fur."

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked. "He may have been wearing green clothes—"

"No." Winnie shook her head. "His clothes weren't green. He was furry, like an animal."

"You're probably tired from the long journey." Abraham said.

"I am not!" She insisted.

"There is a Who child like that, Abe," Luka said. "He was adopted by the spinster sisters, Rose and Clarnella. You may see them tomorrow, Winnie."

Winnie had been encouraged by her parents to make friends with children who "looked like they could use a friend." Because as they said, "No matter how old or young, everyone needs at least one friend." And she knew that kids who were deemed different were often picked on and friendless.

And she wondered if this particular Who child needed a friend.

A/N I was able to watch the live-action Grinch movie earlier this month, and I really liked it. It added a lot to a Christmas cartoon/story I really enjoyed when I was little (and still do) including an interesting backstory for the title character, and a lot of funny moments, courtesy of Jim Carrey (who is now one of my favorite actors)

And as per "tradition," I came up with an OC for the movie (though she doesn't necessarily have to be tied to the live-action movie) I originally wasn't really planning on writing a Grinch fanfic, especially since Christmas is over, but the idea wouldn't leave me alone. Plus, while I did post a pic of her on DeviantART, I also enjoy writing fanfics to tell the OCs stories (even if they're inserted into the canon movie...is that getting old?)

So, the idea of a Who also disliking Christmas probably isn't the most original idea, but it's not very common either, as far as I can tell. I think I can get away with that vague concept as long as I make the character both interesting and unique. And I think she's going to be very unique later on ;) I think I originally thought of the name Winnie because it started with W, like "Who," and I think it's a nice name. Her middle and surname was suggested by a person on DA by the name of NightWolf1159 (thanks very much for the suggestion, if you're reading this ;)) There haven't been other suggestions, and it's really grown on me; plus it was pretty easy for me to make the rhyme talking about her disliking Christmas and thus being a misfit :3

Speaking of rhymes, I definitely don't have the same imagination as the good doctor did when he wrote his stories, and the only poetry I can really do is rhymes...which seems to be what Dr. Seuss did. But I tried to make the aforementioned line sound like something he would write. A lot of the live-action movie, if you didn't know, added a lot of convincing rhymes to the story (I actually had to look up whether Whoville was on a snowflake in the original story) Also, the narrator for the story? That was Anthony Hopkins, aka the infamous Hannibal Lector, or Hannibal the Cannibal as I call him.

Also, if there happen to be any rhymes in this story, I didn't do them on purpose. But feel free to point out any if you find them; maybe I'll set up a counter for accidentally-rhyming sentences that could have potentially made even Dr. Seuss proud.

The title was hard to come up with for this fanfic, and while I do like it, it doesn't seem quite right. But unless I come up with something else later, it'll do. It might grow on me eventually (I wasn't too fond of "Toxic Wings" for my A Bug's Life fanfic originally, but now I can't think of titling it anything else)