If the idea of going home for the holidays sends a chill down your spine, you might find relief in bringing along The Dysfunctional Family Christmas Songbook by John Boswell, best-selling author of What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School, and Lenore Skenazy, a New York Daily News columnist and contributor to Mad magazine. This irreverent hymnal of 19 satirical “alternative” Christmas lyrics, all set to the music of the old standard carols, is guaranteed to raise a reaction whether it’s to tickle the familial funny bone, or to make Aunt Hilda bop Cousin Bobby with the Christmas ham. So, get happy, raise a cup of cheer and warble out such favorites as: “O Holy Fight” (sung to the tune of “O Holy Night”), the saga of one family’s sadly divided politics; and “Come Meet the Family” (sung to “O Come All Ye Faithful”), a “celebration of Christmas aggravation.” Alison Hood still waits up for Santa every Christmas Eve and eats way too many cookies while keeping watch at the hearth.
Valiant Women is a vital and engrossing attempt to correct the record and rightfully celebrate the achievements of female veterans of World War II.
