I want your opinions about three holiday standards: Eggnog, fruitcake and hard candy.
You are allowed to vote for/against all three-multiple voting allowed.
Is this supposed to be a report of personal preference, or a poll of what family around us are doing?
I’ve never tasted eggnog and it’s been some time since I had fruitcake but I would give either of them a try. And who doesn’t like that ribbon candy that comes out around Christmas time? Nope,nothing offensive in that group.
Personal preference.
Come one, come all: Observe the only human being who apparently despises fruitcake. Hate it, man! Iiiiickkkk!
Eggnog: Oh yeah!
Hard candy: Take it or leave it.
I thought fruitcake was something that was famous for being disliked by almost everyone. Sort of like the Circus Peanuts of Christmas.
That said, “fruitcake” is a broad term. Tasteless “cake loaf” speckled with dried & candied Day-Glo colored fruit and soaked in way-too-much rum? Blecch! 
Now, the following fruitcake type I’ve never had, but it sounds good in theory: Basically, an overgrown blueberry muffin. Moist, tasty pound cake with pleasant dried blueberries, cranberries, dates, and raisins, mixed in. No more than a hint of alcohol used in preparation – certainly not enough to preserve the cake any length of time.
Bring it on! I’ve been waiting all year for some nog and cake. The candy’s good too.
Take the Cake and Nog. Leave the hard candy.
Eggnog no. Yuck. Too rich and thick for me.
Fruitcake, voted yes but it depends on the fruitcake. If it’s a good one with lots of nuts and dried fruits and not the neon colored candied stuff, absolutely yes. Also I’m an oddball in that I like mine booze free.
Hard candy no. It never tastes as good as it looks.
Oh and I avoid gumdrops and stuff like that because you never know if they are the tasty fruit ones or the nasty spice ones. Or worst of all the evil licorice/anise flavor. BLAAAAAAAH!!!
I don’t drink alcohol, so eggnog is problematic. Without the booze, it tastes bad. But I do know some teetotalers who add a lot of heavy cream instead of booze, and that turned out pretty good. [yes]
My mother has a recipe that calls for a large amount of sponge cake, with a small amount of soft candied fruits, and that is excellent. But the stuff you will buy in the stores is horrible. [no]
There are a few “old-fashioned” candies that come in flavors that I hate. But most of them taste fine. [yes]
I abstained from the fruitcake question because I don’t think I’ve ever actually had fruitcake before. Although I’ve heard that a good fruitcake, either homemade or made by a good bakery, is miles better than than the commercially produced fruitcakes typically available in grocery stores. The latter kind tend to be overly sweet and overly fruity, and are where fruitcakes get their bad reputation from, or so I’m told.
Yes to the other two. Definitely yes to egg nog, and I don’t mind hard candy although my preference is chocolates or something like that.
Are you talking about Panettone?
This is interesting to me. To me and my circle of family and friends, eggnog is by default non-alcoholic. If I were at a random family-type holiday gathering** in someone’s home and were handed a cup of eggnog, I would be a little surprised to find alcohol in it. Eggnog with brandy or whatever is something I would consider a “special order” – something requested, or something that a host will explicitly ask whether you would like your nog that way.
I am aware that plenty of people do add alcohol to their dairy-case eggnog. I am also aware that there are many brands of alcoholic eggnog on the market (Pennsylvania Dutch and the like).
** as opposed to a frathouse party, or a party hosted by a dive bar, or something like that.
I like to cut richness of my eggnog by 50% with almond milk, or Southern Comfort.
Don’t like nog or fruitcake. Kinda meh on hard candy, but I voted yes on that.
I voted no on all three. The only fruitcake type dessert I’ll eat is something I grew up with called Poor Man’s Cake (or Depression Cake). It’s made with spices and raisins and making it makes the house smell fantastic. I find eggnog too rich and I’ve never been a fan of hard candy. Spritz cookies? Outta my way, they’re wonderful.
Eggnog, sure.
Fruitcake: not as such, but I make mince tarts. Does that count?
Hard candy: hard ‘no’. Hated the stuff since I was a kid.
I’m not getting into the fruitcake debate. I plan on buying one from Harry & David. Love eggnog. Hard candy should not even be made.
I find eggnog drinkable when cut half and half with brandy. But brandy’s better without it.