You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch...

Imagine my surprise and delight when I turned the TV on at 8:00 last night and was thrilled to be reunited with an old friend.

Hellllllllloooooooooooo, Mr. Grinch!

Given my lack of Yuletide Pride this year, I sat down and drank it all in.

I just love his multitude of facial expressions:

But it's this one that's my absolute favorite:

I just love that smirk on his face, that absolute look of delicious evilness. When you watch the special, Chuck Jones does a superb job animating his face. The mouth turns up ever so slowly into this wide, delicious smirk. And I love how the brows go down in tandem with the face. And it's not just this face Mr. Jones animates this way; it's all of the faces that the Grinch makes.

I love the rhymes of Dr. Seuss, and I love the way Boris Karloff brings them to life. You can't imagine anyone else narrating this classic.

And the Whos...ahh, the Whos! Those delightful creatures whose goodwill and cheer prevail in the end, even though their material Christmas possessions have been taken away and nearly dumped over the side of Mount Crumpet. Such delightful little expressions of commercialism, these Whos, whose dietary staples are Who Hash and the Roast Beast. (I just love those little chef's hat thingies they put on the end of the Roast Beast!)

The special itself lasted half an hour, followed by a "making of" segment hosted by Tom Bergeron. I had known that the vocalist for the songs, Thurl Ravenscroft, was also the voice of Tony the Tiger (they're grrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat!), but I didn't know that Albert Hague was the composer of the songs.

Albert Hague?

The guy who played Shorofsky on Fame?

Yep, that one.

(Speaking of which, when are they ever gonna bring the rest of the seasons of Fame on DVD? I know they've got the first season).

Anyhoo, that's how I spent last night, in the company of Mr. Grinch.

And my Yuletide Pride feels ever so much better now that he paid me a visit.

Well, maybe just a teensy bit better. :)