Per my review at http://baltimorereads.wordpress.com/2... 
 If you're in search of a quick holiday read to get you through these last days of the season, I highly recommend David Sedaris's Holidays on Ice. This short collection of holiday-themed essays delivers in typical Sedaris style with plenty of sarcasm and laughter to go around. Though if you are looking for a lighthearted, inspirational collection of Christmas cheer, this may not be the book for you. Sedaris focuses on aspects of the holidays that bring out the crazy in all of us, from camera-wielding parents in line to see Santa to annual family newsletter over-shares to superficial acts of kindness inspired by the "giving" theme of the holidays. 
 The book starts off with a bang with the hilarious recounting of Sedaris's stint as a Macy's elf in "Santaland Diaries." Sedaris uses his time working as "Crumpet" the elf to highlight the insanity that the holidays produces in all of us, particularly the parents in search of the "perfect" photo of their child with the man that symbolizes the Christmas season - Santa Claus. "Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol" presents Sedaris's thoughts on those cheesy Christmas plays that everyone has been a part of and witnessed. 
 In "Season's Greetings to Our Friends and Family!!!" Sedaris takes family newsletters to a whole new level with the story of the Dunbar family. Mrs. Dunbar attempts to sugarcoat the tragedy that has befallen her family by bragging about her kids and making excuses for herself, but in the end the excessive amounts of exclamation points and forced cheeriness aren't enough to mask the absurdity of the Dunbar story. I won't say anymore - Mrs. Dunbar's words are more than enough. 
 Sedaris continues with more hyperbolic fiction in the essays "Based on a True Story" and "Christmas Means Giving," both of which are just as over-the-top as "Season's Greetings." All three essays are written with a specific intent, however. Each is a commentary on how the holiday season, which is meant to be a time of year that we are more giving and kind than usual, can often bring out the worst in us. And yet there are the moments that live up to the bar that the holidays set, such as in "Dinah, the Christmas Whore." I'll allow you to read that one and discover the magic of Christmas for yourself. 
 So go ahead and sit back with a glass of eggnog and drink up Sedaris's comical portrayal of Christmas and everything that comes with it.