History Main / TheAntiGrinch

* ''WesternAnimation/MickeysTwiceUponAChristmas'' has Mickey enjoy over-decorating his house so much that he ends up scaring Pluto away after getting irritated when [[StuffBlowingUp everything goes wrong]]. It takes Pluto ending up at the North Pole and serving as part of Santa's Workshop for him to come to his senses.

* Clark Griswold on both ''Film/NationalLampoonsVacation'' and ''Film/NationalLampoonsChristmasVacation'', where his over-zealousness to give his family the best experience ever come hell or high water overrides said family's desire to enjoy a simpler experience and completely makes their lives a living hell (to not mention wrecks their car/house). Clark's son Rusty follows the tradition in the 2015 ''Film/{{Vacation}}'' remake-slash-continuation.

* After the opening origin story stretch of ''Film/SantaClausTheMovie'', the plot is driven primarily by one of his elves, Patch. He is a forward-thinking inventor who believes he can bring the North Pole into ThePresentDay with an automated toy production system, but while it initially works, ''everyone'' realizes too late that many of the toys it produces are defective, spoiling an entire Christmas season. Guilt-ridden and believing Santa no longer likes him, Patch becomes determined to prove he can get Christmas right and descends into the human world to [[StartMyOwn produce, market, and distribute]] (via a FlyingCar) a lollipop that temporarily induces flight. Unfortunately, as he is a WideEyedIdealist he puts his trust in a crooked toymaker, B.Z., who agrees to bankroll him so that he can exploit his inventions for cold hard cash and become a VillainWithGoodPublicity. Patch's project is so successful come the next Christmas that it '''upstages''' Santa, sending Santa into a blue funk. When Patch realizes via a young human friend of Santa that he not only didn't need to win back Santa's favor but actually made things worse, he decides to return to the North Pole with the next treat he was designing for B.Z. -- candy canes that are even more powerful than the lollipops -- and give them to Santa to distribute, figuring it will be a "best of both worlds" situation. Unfortunately there's the little matter that the candy canes [[MadeOfExplodium explode when exposed to high temperatures]] (something only the villains know of at the time), leading to a climactic ChaseScene as Santa and his reindeer pursue the car...

* In ''Film/TheGuardiansOfTheGalaxyHolidaySpecial'', Mantis and Drax want to give Quill a proper Christmas, since they don't think he's had one since he was abducted from Earth. For reasons that ''almost'' make sense at the time, they decide this means kidnapping Creator/KevinBacon and giving him to Quill as a present. Needless to say, Quill points out that they're just committing ''another'' abduction.

* In ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh and Christmas Too'', Pooh realizes that Christopher Robin's letter to Santa Claus never arrived, so he dresses up as Santa and gives presents to all his friends. Unfortunately, the hastily made presents fall apart, and the others decide to go after the fake Santa, not realizing it's Pooh.

There are [[TheGrinch people who hate Christmas]]; those that want to see it end in flames and screams and sad faces. But one cannot accomplish such a thing as ruining Christmas so easily, as the spirit of Christmas is often too powerful for one person to ruin it so thoroughly.

The Anti-Grinch, alternatively known as the Anti-Scrooge, ''loves'' Christmas. Loves it in the "going out of their way to make it special" kind of way. They might even want to add to it and share it with the world. This usually involves [[MallSanta playing as Santa Claus]] as he or she brings presents to all of the good little boys and girls.

* Good Girl from ''Webcomic/TheLeagueOfSuperRedundantHeroes'' always goes ''totally nuts'' over Christmas and tends to go overboard, so much that her friends delay reminding her of the date as long as possible.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheCupheadShow'': In ''[[Recap/TheCupheadShowS3E6AVeryDevilChristmas A Very Devil Christmas]]'', the Devil is shown to love Christmas. And he loves it because it gives him so many joyous holiday moments... to ruin and cause mischief. And he loves the idea of being given Christmas gifts. The only thing he hates about Christmas is actually being nice and jolly, which he is forced to do as Santa, in order for him to be on the Nice List to be given a toy train.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS15E7TisTheFifteenthSeason "Tis The Fifteenth Season"]]: Homer decides to change his ways and become the nicest person in town. When he gets told there's too much commercialism in Christmas and that everyone is better off without presents (by [[SoapboxSadie Lisa]]), Homer decides to to the "ultimate good deed" by stealing Christmas. Needless to say, [[TorchesAndPitchforks this doesn't work]].

[[/folder]]

-->-- ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'' review of ''Film/HomeAlone2LostInNewYork''

* ''WesternAnimation/TheCupheadShow'': In ''[[Recap/TheCupheadShowS3E6AVeryDevilChristmas A Very Devil Christmas]]'', the Devil loves Christmas. And he loves it because it gives him so many joyous holiday moments... to ruin and cause mischief. And he loves the idea of being given Christmas gifts. The only thing he hates about Christmas is actually being nice and jolly, which he is forced to do as Santa, in order for him to be on the Nice List to be given a toy train.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheCupheadShow'': In ''[[Recap/TheCupheadShowS3E6AVeryDevilChristmas A Very Devil Christmas'', the Devil loves Christmas. And he loves it because it gives him so many joyous holiday moments... to ruin and cause mischief. And he loves the idea of being given Christmas gifts. The only thing he hates about Christmas is actually being nice and jolly, which he is forced to do as Santa, in order for him to be on the Nice List to be given a toy train.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In the episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E21Hearthbreakers Hearthbreakers]]", Applejack, along with her family, visits Pinkie Pie's home in Hearths Warming Day. Noticing that Pinkie's family tradition differs from Applejack, to the point that it was literally dull as rocks, she vamps up the place using her traditions to enlighten the Hearths Warming spirit. It backfires spectacularly when the Pie family landmark, a giant egg-shaped boulder, falls off the edge of a cliff and gets stuck at the bottom of a quarry.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': Timmy Turner wishes for Christmas to occur every day (365 straight days of Christmas). This backfires as after about 15 days, everyone had grown tired of neverending Christmases, and the fairies are unable to cancel the wish as their magic was sent to empower Santa Claus. Only by Timmy convincing children all over the world to write letters to Santa and have him end the neverending Christmas is the wish finally broken.

The Anti-Grinch ''loves'' Christmas. Loves it in the "going out of their way to make it special" kind of way. They might even want to add to it and share it with the world. This usually involves [[MallSanta playing as Santa Claus]] as he or she brings presents to all of the good little boys and girls.

* ''Movie/TheMagicalChristmasTree'', Strickling hates Christmas until he is visted by magical ghosts of Christmas, so he decides to change his ways, and bring peace and joy to everyone. It does not go well.

A variant of this is a character's overzealouness for Christmas driving them to [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor wish for it to come every day, but eventually learn that way too much of a good thing can ruin it for everybody.]]

* ''Movie/TheMagicalChristmasTree'', Strickling hates christmas till he is visted by magical ghosts of christmas, so he decides to change his ways, and bring peace and joy to everyone. It does not go well.

[[caption-width-right:350:...I bet I could improve it too, and that's exactly what I'll do!]]

A variant of this is a character's overzealouness for Christmas drives them to [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor wish for it to come every day, but eventually learn that way too much of a good thing can ruin it for everybody.]]

A variant of this is a character's overzealouness for Christmas drives them to [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor wish for it to come every day, but eventually learn that way too much of a good thing can ruin it for everybody.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
** One Christmas special has [=SpongeBob=] learn about Christmas from Sandy, and proceeds to get the entire town excited about Santa. Everyone except Squidward, who ends up having to play Santa when the real one doesn't show up.
** In ''another'' Christmas special, Plankton tricks Spongebob into feeding everyone fruitcake laced with [[{{Aesoptinium}} jerktonium]], which turns anyone who eats it into a jerk. Spongebob is unaware of this, assuming that everyone is just being overenthusiastic, but he himself is immune to the effects because he's too much of a KindheartedSimpleton.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* One of [[spoiler:King Asgore]]'s roles in the world of ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' is playing Santa to the residents.
* ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'' has two reindeer-looking monsters, Noelle Holiday and her father Rudy, who seemingly have Christmas on the mind year-round. They're like a two-person PlanetOfHats. Ironically, one of [[LovableCoward Noelle's many fears]] is Santa Claus.
[[/folder]]

* Death standing in for the Literature/{{Hogfather}}, in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel of the same name, has elements of this, such as very nearly giving a girl a real sword rather than a wooden one, and putting a pony in a second-floor flat. However, it's ultimately subverted, as it turns out Death's brand of LiteralMindedness means he grasps what Hogswatch is supposed to be about much more clearly than most people, and worries at the things everyone else accepts as part of the season, but which are actually a bit off (little match girls dying in the snow, smug kings offloading their leftovers onto bewildered peasants, and the Hogfather only giving children the sort of presents the family could have afforded anyway.)

[[folder: Literature]]
* Death standing in for the Literature/{{Hogfather}}, in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel of the same name, has elements of this, such as very nearly giving a girl a real sword rather than a wooden one, and putting a pony in a second-floor flat. However, it's ultimately subverted, as it turns out Death's brand of LiteralMindedness means he grasps what Hogswatch is supposed to be about much more clearly than most people, and worries at the things everyone else accepts as part of the season, but which are actually a bit off (little match girls dying in the snow, smug kings offloading their leftovers onto bewildered peasants, and the Hogfather only giving children the sort of presents the family could have afforded anyway.)
[[/folder]]

Consider the opposite of TheGrinch and [[HowTheCharacterStoleChristmas how he failed to steal Christmas]].

There are [[TheGrinch people who hate Christmas]]; those that want to see it end in flames and screams and sad faces. But one cannot accomplish such a thing as ruining Christmas so easily, as the spirit of Christmas is often too powerful for one person to ruin it so thoroughly. However, [[ObliviouslyEvil sometimes the road to Hell is paved with good intentions]], and the one to pave it is this guy: the Anti-Grinch.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Good Girl from ''Webcomic/TheLeagueOfSuperRedundantHeroes'' always goes ''totally nuts'' over Christmas and tends to go overboard, so much that her friends delay reminding her of the date as long as possible.
[[/folder]]

There are people who hate Christmas (or any other kind of joyous moment); those that want to see it end in flames and screams and sad little faces. But one cannot accomplish such a thing as the spirit of Christmas is within everyone and can never die. However, [[ObliviouslyEvil sometimes the road to Hell is paved with good intentions]], and the one to pave it is this guy.

The Anti-Grinch ''loves'' Christmas. Loves it in the "going out of (their) way" kind of way. They might even want to add to it and share it with the world. This usually involves [[MallSanta playing as Santa Claus]] as he or she brings presents to all of the good little boys and girls.

This has a history of backfiring, as usually [[BadSanta what they bring to the table isn't really something appropriate]] for the occasion, poisoning the season and those warm-fuzzy feelings. This is mostly out of ignorance of their actions, the Anti-Grinch realizing their mistake and [[SavingChristmas fixing it at the very very very VERY last second]].

* Jack Skellington from ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' loves Christmas ''so'' much that he tries taking over for the year, only to terrify the ignorant masses with his gifts mail-order from HalloweenTown. It gets so bad the human authorities try to shoot him out of the sky, literally knocking Jack to his senses.

* One of [[spoiler:King Asgore]]'s roles in the world of ''VideoGame/Undertale'' is playing Santa to the residents.