Book club decided it wanted to do something seasonal for December. This was at the top of a Goodreads "Books About Christmas" list and was readily available at the local library and cheap to purchase used online, so we went for it.
I know nothing about Laurie Notaro, but after I finished reading this my assumption was that she's a blogger who got a book contract, because that's how the book read to me. Turns out she's a columnist/essayist (but, I mean, that's not entirely different from what many bloggers do, right?). I'd never read any of her other essay collections, so I'm not sure how this one compares. It was a fun Christmas read: very short, something you can tear through in a night or two. Some essays didn't particularly strike my funny bone, and nothing here had me rolling with laughter. A couple of the essays also seemed only very tangentially related to Christmas and felt more like filler than something that actually belonged here. Overall, though, this was good for getting a jump start on the holiday spirit. I'm not sure that I'm inspired to go pick up more of Notaro's work when there are so many other things I'm interested in reading, but if I stumbled across another one of her books I'd probably pick it up.

Laurie Notaro makes me laugh- this book should be a Christmas movie (it would be waaaay more funny than, say, Christmas with the Kranks). She always keeps me giggling and the holiday season is the perfect backdrop for Laurie's nutty stories. Laughed out loud (again!)

Received it for Christmas

2 hours to read

I own it and would have bought it just for have yourself a Kmart little Christmas.

It was a good read, but I could have used more. There were a few I had read before but still made me laugh. Not her best collection but still worth the read!

All of Laurie Notaro's books are really funny but i was a little disappointed in this collection because there were several stories that i had read before in her other books. still, i'd recommend her for a good laugh.

This is just a collection of essays from er other books. Still funny though.

Not my favorite.

Just finished this funny book. It's a collection of humorous observations and stories about the Christmas season. Although nothing can ever, ever be as hysterical as David Sedaris' Santaland Diaries, I always think it's fun to read something seasonal during December.

While funny, the first two essays rubbed me the wrong way just a little. The first is about bad gifts. I think I'm probably very lucky to come from a family of excellent gift-givers, but this one just seemed a little ungrateful to me. If I were in Laurie Notaro's family and I read this chapter, I'd be pretty tempted just to not get her anything for Christmas ever again. The second is about some ridiculous precautions to prevent drunk driving if you're giving a holiday party. Some of them really were silly, like not letting your friends mix their own drinks and providing safe rides (I'd rather spend my holiday party budget on an awesome cheese plate than a limo service). But, the tone of the piece sort of left me the impression that she'd be perfectly happy to let her friends drive away hammered. Probably not true, but she's a pretty talented writer and she should have found some humorous way to clarify this point.

I enjoyed the pieces very much, especially the one about taking Grandma shopping.

This book is halarious. It is every crazy family Christmas quirk that your family has and that you never wanted to admit to. My favorite parts are "taking grandma holiday shopping" and the beginning when she talks about the many and varied awful gifts she gets each year.

Scan read this after reading about 40 pages of it. My sense of humor must be different than this authors. Life is too short to wade thru something one isn't enjoying.

A rare opportunity to laugh until I cried.

Wanted to laugh more than I did. Maybe my expectations were too high going in? Had some clever moments, but felt a little strained to me. Might have been my mood...Might try Laurie Notaro another time, in a different mood.

very funny, all her books are funny