Ornament Review: A Very Merry Grinchmas!

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Fun light and music display

Cons: New recording of song, lights up in sections

The Bottom Line:

Big decorations

That are themed around the Grinch

With lights and a song

Crazy Decorations Featuring…the Grinch?

I’ve had a hard time resisting Hallmark’s ornaments inspired by some of the crazy house decorations you see around in December.  Combined that with The Grinch, and I spent all of ornament season in 2022 eyeing A Very Merry Grinchmas!  I resisted for a while, but I finally bought it when it was on sale after Christmas.

If you’ve seen videos (or one in person) of the houses with lots of lights and music, you’ pretty much know what to expect.  This ornament features a two story house with lights everywhere.  In the windows, on the sides of the house, the stocking hanging under the lower story window, in the sleigh out front.

What makes this part of a theme are the characters we have.  In front of the driveway, we have the Grinch himself, caught in the act of stealing a tree (with lights on it, of course).  In the upper story windows, we have Max (his dog) and Cindy Lou Who.  Above the house is a big light up banner that says Merry Grinchmas!

For all these lights to work, you need Hallmark’s power cord, which is the current cord they sell.  It is sold separately.  Without the cord, you get the fun house, but you don’t get any of the light or sound.  And I wouldn’t pay full price for this ornament ($39.99) without planning on hooking it up to the power cord.

The lights don’t light up individually, but they light from bulbs inside.  The various sections of the house do change color, but all the lights in that section do it all at the same time.

There’s a small button on the right side of the ornament.  When you press that, you get music and a sync’d light show.  You guessed it, the ornament plays “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.”  It’s an instrumental version that speeds up as it goes along.  Yes, it would be better if it were the version from the special, but this is still fun.  The lights blink in time with the music, and it is fun to watch.  All told, the show lasts about 24 seconds.

Since this is a house, the ornament has a flat base, so you could set this out as part of any display you wanted it to be part of.  The loop for hanging the ornament sticks out from the top of the banner.  It tips back slightly when you go to hang it, but get a few tree branches around it, and you’ll never know.

I’m glad I added this ornament to my collection.  Full price seems a bit much to me, but fans of the Grinch will definitely enjoy having A Very Merry Grinchmas! each year.