For years my Mom made at least a couple of dozen fruitcakes every year to give out as Christmas gifts. I can remember her sitting and cutting up dried fruits and nuts for hours. Sometimes I would help, but not nearly as often as I should have probably. It was very time consuming, and as she got older it became more difficult so she started gradually cutting back on the number she would make to give as gifts. When people got other gifts they acted hurt and maybe a little mad. You see, people loved them. I would say that everyone that got one loved it. This may have been because they were soaked in good Kentucky Bourbon, but Bourbon isn't exactly rare in Kentucky. Most people know fruitcake from the horrible doorstops sold as fruitcake by mail order cheese and sausage vendors, but those are mear facsimiles of a good homemade fruitcake.
The things only got better with age too, which always perplexed me when I was a little boy. My family would usually keep two, one for Christmas and one to nibble on for the next few months.
Mincemeat pie is a delicacy that is also butchered by many people. It wasn't a family tradition, but I've had some that were delicious with a tart and sweet filling and flaky crust. On the other hand, I've had others that I would just as soon not remember. IMO there is no mediocre mincemeat pie, it's either fantastic or disgusting.
The sad thing is that nobody really learned to make my Mom's fruitcake. There's probably a recipe, but a lot of what she cooked when I was growing up had no written recipe or there were so many mental revisions that the recipe was a very loose guideline. Mom has major problems with her memory now (alzheimer's disease or something very similar) so the Christmas fruitcake is a lost family tradition.
If someone you know makes you a fruitcake this Christmas, try it you might like it. If your family has a holiday tradition make sure you learn to pass it on before it's too late.
Sorry that was so long.
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