American Humor: Aunt Lucy’s Holiday Stress Cure

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ILLUSTRATION: PETER KUPER
Then she took a deep, deep breath. A strange, lopsided smile began to twitch on her lips, and her eyes danced like marbles in a blender.

Last Laugh shares MOTHER EARTH NEWS reader submitted American humor with other readers.

American Humor: Aunt Lucy’s Holiday Stress Cure

We interrupt the ongoing rail ramblings of the Plumtree Crossing Continental Cruisers just in time to share the following message sent to us by Jeff Taylor, whose cautionary tale of American humor concerns that upcoming national trauma–the holidays.

When I was growing up, we celebrated every Thanksgiving and Christmas at Aunt Lucy’s house in the country. At her insistence, some 30 souls, counting kids and dogs, would gather there: a running pack of uncles arguing sports and politics, a gaggle of aunts underfoot in her huge country kitchen and a small herd of kids in search-and destroy mode among valuable heirlooms.

“Pshaw,” she’d grate out after we kids tipped over a hutch full of dishes, “that china was so old that Washington ate off it once! High time to buy new!”

  • Published on Nov 1, 1987
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