I Saw Mommy Kicking Santa Claus: The Ultimate Holiday Survival Guide

by Ann Hodgman

A hilarious guide to surviving the holiday season presents a selection of true holiday horror stories, helpful hints, recipes, crafts, and gift suggestions as it provides advice on how to deal with the "truth" about Santa, how to merge different holiday traditions, how to cope with holiday stress and difficult holiday guests, and more.

Genres: Nonfiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Ann Hodgman (born 1956) is an American author of more than forty children's books as well as several cookbooks and humor books and many magazine articles.

Ann was raised in Rochester, New York and graduated from Harvard College, where she was a staff member on the Harvard Lampoon and the Harvard Advocate. She was the food columnist for the magazines Spy and Eating Well. Her essay "No Wonder They Call Me a Bitch," about taste-testing various dog foods, was included in "Best American Essays." Hodgman is also known for her three cookbooks, Beat This!, Beat That! and One Bite Won't Kill You. She is the author of the 6-book vampire series My Babysitter is a Vampire and the nonfiction memoir "The House of a Million Pets."

Hodgman is married to author David Owen, a staff writer for The New Yorker, and they have two children, Laura and John.

Reviews

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first rule of the holiday survival guide is to get enough sleep. Of course I was reading this book at 1:00 a.m. Actually the book contains some good ideas to simplify and de-stress the Christmas season. My rule: remember the 12 days of Christmas are Dec. 25-Jan. 5, NOT the twelve days BEFORE Christmas. There's a lot of time to get everything done if you just allow yourself time to enjoy it all.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun book!

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate Hodgman's sense of humor and down-to-earth view of life. Although this isn't her funniest book, it still has some good advice for surviving the holiday season for those who can't seem to gain control of it all.

Personally, I'm not one of those people. (I happen to like taking my Christmas decorations down on January 1st or 2nd. Everything seems so neat and clean and orderly after a month (or more!) of holiday frou frou-ness. It's starts the new year off with a clean slate! If I kept my decorations up until Jan 6th or later I'd shoot myself.) But I do like her idea of not doing all of the BIG stuff on just one or two days, and also simplifying where you can.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fred saw me reading this book and said, "You always read those books." I replied, "I read these books so I can survive Christmas." I found this one especially helpful. Points I liked: 1. Get enough rest; if that means cutting out a few things, so be it. You can't enjoy Christmas if you're tired all the time. 2. Don't take on everything yourself. 3. It's okay to change traditions or at least not do everything every year. 4. Get some Christmas presents for yourself. 5. Spread Christmas out thinner; enjoy things before and after 12/25 (like special foods, movies, ice skating).

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recently had to teach a class on simplifying and minimizing holiday stress. I read this book in preparation to teach on the topic. The book does have a lot of good ideas for simplification and it is pretty funny in parts. However, the main focus of this book is the more secular aspects of the holiday season and there are few (if any) suggestions about making the holiday more spiritually meaningful.

[Danni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to read this book early. I wanted to see if I could come up with some ideas for a Christmas battle plan. Last night with Scott we wrote down things we wanted to see happen at Christmas,Things that we would need money for, gifts that we wanted to give,and treats to make. I hope I am organized now. It was a funny book too.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

looks funny
so funny and light harted about a stressfull time of year!

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christmas puts such huge pressure on everyone-and worst is on moms. read this to alleviate some of the stress and get back to what's important in the holiday. And it's wicked funny.

[Carrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good idea and thoughts but not really book worthy. However, I might enjoy this author's other books, I think she's somewhat witty.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's funny! It's fun! Now put it down and go deck some halls.