Jen Mann is the author of the popular blog, People I Want To Punch in the Throat, and now author of Spending The Holidays With People I Want to Punch in the Throat. It is a hilarious book of stories that Mann remembers form her childhood. Including the ones that show how much of brat she was on one particular Christmas morning.
She pokes fun at herself and other members of her family, because lets face it, when everyone gets together for the holidays, something funny is bound to happen. This book is hilarious and helps to make some of your family gatherings look meek and tame compared to Mann’s.
Each chapter is a new essay or story of something we can all relate to like “The Elf on the Shelf” and “Suburban Mom’s Endless Christmas Conversation Loop.” My husband can take “You Can Keep Your Cookies, I’m Just Here for the Booze.”
The holidays are one of my favorite times of the year for this very reason, I get awesome and embarrassing stories to tell later in life. Life is far more interesting when you have funny stories to reminisce about together.
Here is one of my favorite excerpts from the book:
Earlier in the month I had made my wish list, and along with Barbies, art supplies, and a shit ton of other stuff, I had asked my parents for a kick-ass Playskool McDonald’s. It was not under the tree, and I was more than a little pissed off.
Little did I know that my grandparents had actually bought the Playskool McDonald’s and it was waiting for me at the last party as sort of the grand finale of the day. They wanted to save the best for last and see my sweet little face erupt in pure joy and amazement at the miracle of Christmas gifts. Instead, according to family legend, I went nuclear on everyone. I demanded the McDonald’s and cried and threw myself on the floor in a fit of screams when it wasn’t immediately produced. This temper tantrum was not the reaction my parents had anticipated.
My parents were horrified that their precious snowflake could be such a little bitch. I was promptly put in time-out. I’m not sure if I was able to open my McDonald’s that day, because I was such a little shit, but since I remember playing with it, I’m pretty sure I wasn’t denied too long. Surely by New Year’s I was living my dream of one day working at a McDonald’s.
If you’re looking for a good read to kick off your holiday season, this is the book.
