"Die, die, die," he shouted.

"What are you doing?" Flora asked Lawrence.

"Playing Xbox."

She pondered the response and watched for another moment, "What are you doing?" Flora asked again.

"Playing Xbox," he replied tersely.

She watched his hands move as he clicked various buttons on the controller, "What are you doing?" Flora asked yet again.

"I told you, I'm playing Xbox!"

"Can I play?" Flora asked.

"No, you're too little."

She watched some more, "What are you doing?"

"Mum, Flora is bothering me," shouted Lawrence.

Caroline was about to run into the room to tell Lawrence to be nice when Kate stopped her. "Let's see how this plays out. She wants to play with him and my money is on her to wear him down until he concedes. Before long, he'll be sitting at her little table wearing the plastic play jewelry and having a tea party."

Caroline's face lit up, "I'm taking a picture of that and putting it on Facebook."

After a few minutes, Lawrence was unable to concentrate as a pair of big brown eyes stared at him non-stop and kept asking, 'what are you doing.' He finally gave in, "what do you want to do Flora?"

She took his hand and walked him over to her little bookshelf and proceeded to pull out all of her favorite Dr. Seuss books before settling on the sofa to read them.

Realizing it was way too quiet, Caroline walked in to find the two of them reading together, a sight that melted her heart. Lawrence looked up, "no pictures and I better get extra Christmas presents for this."

She walked back into the kitchen and Kate looked at her, "well?"

"You were right…I mean, well, they're not having a tea party but he's reading to her in a silly voice. I can't get him to do what I need him to do but she's got him wrapped around her little finger."


Over the coming weeks, the pair spent more time reading together and whenever his mum or Kate saw them reading together, without missing a beat, he'd say "no pictures and I better get extra Christmas presents for this."

One night, while Kate was getting Flora ready for bed, the child asked her mum, "Is it Christmas?"

"Not yet, but in two weeks. Who comes on Christmas?"

She crouched down, scrunched her face, tightened her fists and with a long deep growl, she replied, "Griiiiiinch."

"Who else?"

But Flora once again responded, "Griiiiiinch."

"How about Santa?"

Flora shrugged her shoulders like she never heard of him.

Later that evening, while getting ready for bed, Kate told Caroline of Flora's response about the Grinch. "Our daughter was both absolutely adorable and looked like she was demon possessed."

"Who do you think she thinks the Grinch is; a fictional character, my mother? I think it's my mum, I love her but, you know how she is."

"Could be anyone, could be Flora. Sweet child 364 days a year but long ago, there was a spell put on her and each Christmas she transforms into the Grinch."

Caroline stared at her wife like she was bonkers

"Okay, probably not but ask her tomorrow, see if she does that growl again, it's both cute and slightly disturbing."

The following morning, Caroline was getting breakfast ready when Kate and Flora walked in. "Is it Christmas yet Flora?"

She shook her head and said, "no."

Caroline asked, "tell me, who is going to come on Christmas?"

Flora crouched down, scrunched her face, tightened her fists and with a long deep growl, she replied, "Griiiiiinch."

"Not Santa Claus?"

Just like the night before, Flora shrugged her shoulders like she never heard of him.

Caroline stared at Kate in disbelief and Kate stared back as if to say, 'I know.'

Later that day, Kate caught Flora holding her copy of 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas,' and she was dancing and singing with it, just repeating, "La, la, la, la, la, la, la," as she danced in circles.

"Do you want to read the book Flora?"

She shook her head yes while continuing with "la, la, la, la, la, la, la."

After they finished, Flora said, "again," and after the second reading, "again," and after the third and fourth times, "again."

While she cherished story time with her daughter, she really didn't want to read it a fifth time. "How about a different book?"

It was nearing her naptime and Flora whined, "again."

For her own sanity, Kate didn't think she had it in her to read it again so she snuggled with her daughter and said, "Flora-Lou Who, let's sing like the Who's in Who-ville."

Together, mother and daughter began to sing, "La, la, la, la, la, la, la," and it wasn't long before Flora was sound asleep.

When Caroline arrived home from work, Kate said, "you are on bedtime duty tonight, she's going to want to read that book again. I can't, I just can't read it again, apparently, four times in a day is my max."

Upon hearing that word 'max', Flora thought of the Grinch's dog named Max and grabbed her book and started singing "la, la, la, la, la, la, la," as she walked to Caroline and held it up, "Mama, read Grinch."

Kate looked up at her wife, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…good luck."

This continued every day with an occasional reprieve if Alan, Celia or Lawrence were around to read to her.

By Christmas Eve, Flora was bouncing with excitement that the Grinch was coming and would still growl the name when one of her mother's asked. She also knew the story by heart and would correct them if they read the wrong word

Christmas morning brought an even more excited Flora as she received a plush Grinch, a Grinch shirt and various other Grinch related gifts.

As the family arrived at the farmhouse, they still weren't sure who, if any of them was the Grinch in Flora's eyes. Caroline turned to Kate, "Do you think it's John?"

"No, she's excited about the Grinch, I doubt she cares about him. Maybe Greg? She always has a lot of fun with him," said Kate. "Then again, I don't think she would be this excited to see Greg."

After they finished eating, Lawrence got up and whispered in Flora's ear. "The Grinch is coming soon." A few moments later, he walked back in the room wearing an ugly Grinch jumper and in one of the silly voices he used while reading to her:

Why, my sweet little weirdo from the ville of Who

I'm here today to have some Who-pudding with you

If it is not tasty, I know what we can do.

Mama and Mummy made some Who-biscuits too.

Flora ran up to him and like many times before, crouched down, scrunched her face, tightened her fists and with a long deep growl, she exclaimed, "Griiiiiinch." She reached up to take his hands and said, "the Who-Christmas-Sing," and proceeded to dance with him and sing "la, la, la, la, la, la, la."

Caroline quickly took a video and said, "This is so going on Facebook."


Note: How The Grinch Stole Christmas was written by Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. Love the book but Green Eggs and Ham is my favorite.