Okay so you see the picture above and you're thinking "Self! This can't possibly be right! Something is wrong, all the fat globules have gone to Cliff's brain. Fruitcake is a terrible gift!" BUT! Its terribleness and near universal ability to make people long for the dreary cold fruitcake-less January nights is exactly what makes FRUITCAKE the 3rd greatest gift of Christmas.
People have been hating on fruitcake for decades, probably since before the advent of television, radio, or puppet theater. Recently I sat down to watch a Christmas episode of "The Donna Reed Show" (cuz that's how I spend my free time) and lo and behold! Here in the middle of one of the most wholesome fifties sitcoms ever created- the mailman turned up his nose at a fresh baked fruitcake!
Other people from Steve Martin in "Mixed Nuts" to Pee-wee to everyone ever have hated fruitcake! It's one of my favorite running Christmas jokes. Warms my heart. One of the only times I have seen anyone praise the nuttiest of holiday desserts is "Truman Capote's Christmas Memory." (The Geraldine Page version, not the Patti Duke). It's an amazing special that I watch (and weep at) each December. In it, a young version of Capote and an older relative of his make and send fruitcakes to distant folks they care about. It's the best of the batch! (Well worth watching if you can find it).
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