I don't know how much longer my 15-year-old will care about the Grinch, so I spent $250 so he could meet him at Universal

Immediately, I was reminded of his younger Christmases when he loved watching Jim Carrey in the live-action version of the story and begged me to read him Dr. Seuss's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" every night.

Because I don't know how much longer he'll appreciate the Grinch's Christmas antics, I booked us a holiday VIP tour at Universal and a hotel room so we could lock in a visit with the Grinch this holiday season.

Since I booked early, I paid $85 per person for the VIP holiday tour after taxes. Tour tickets are now selling for $100 each before tax.

Theme-park admission isn't included in the ticket, but we didn't have to pay extra because of our annual passes. One-day park-to-park Universal tickets start at about $174 for adults.

The VIP tour includes perks like a private meet-and-greet with Santa Claus and two breaks for complimentary food, desserts, and hot chocolate.

The big draw for my son and I, however, was the exclusive meet-and-greet with the Grinch and his dog, Max.

With our tickets, we also got reserved seats at the "Grinchmas Who-liday Spectacular," a Broadway-style re-telling of the Grinch's story. The live show was very impressive.

The Grinch is available for meet-and-greets for any park guest at Universal Studios, but many regular guests have to wait hours to do so.

Our tour tickets included a reserved time for a meet-and-greet with the Grinch, zero wait time required.

We saved a lot of time, and meeting the Grinch privately made the price of the VIP experience worth it.

VIP tour guests get to meet the Grinch's dog, Max. With the help of Max's trainer, we even got photos with the pup.

This experience was exclusive to the tour, and it was well worth the price of our VIP ticket.

Throughout both of Universal's theme parks, Universal Studios Florida and Universal Islands of Adventure, we saw plenty of Grinch-themed treats.

There was something for everyone, from green cotton candy to Grinch popcorn buckets.

Our VIP tour included complimentary snacks, so we could eat as many green Grinch sugar cookies as we wanted. The cookies usually cost $2 each in the parks.

Universal Islands of Adventure's Seuss Landing area was fully decorated for the holidays.

Here, we snacked on Grinch cookies and spent time chatting with Cindy Lou Who and her parents, who loved our Grinch shirts and had nothing but kind words to say about everyone's favorite misunderstood green guy.

For each of its annual festivals, Universal Orlando launches a Tribute Store. This year's holiday Tribute Store has a Grinch-inspired room modeled after the Whoville Post Office.

Here, we shopped for Grinch merchandise and themed snacks, like a Who Hash trifle cake.

This themed shop can be visited by any guest with a park ticket, so it's a great option for those who want Grinchy activities without waiting in long lines or paying for VIP tours.

The Grinch-themed merchandise was plentiful, from Grinch onesie pajamas to an entire holiday village designed to look like Whoville.

We took home a stuffed Grinch to commemorate our visit to the theme parks.

Teens can take themselves seriously, so it's always on my agenda to show my 13 and 15-year-olds that it's OK to be silly and have fun.

Spending a day touring the Grinch-themed elements around Universal's theme parks and an evening doing a VIP holiday tour warmed my heart.

It was a lot of fun to watch my son smile at the festiveness of it all and forget about being a cool teenager for a while.

Would I spend $250 again next year to have a Grinchy good time with my teenage son? Absolutely.

The cost felt well worth it for a day of bonding with my teen, from the $170 I spent on our two VIP tickets to the $70 cost of a night at Universal's Endless Summer Dockside Resort (the cheapest property at Universal Orlando).

Finding things we have in common becomes more and more difficult as my kids age, so I've learned to take the good with the Grinchy when it comes to creating memories with them both.