It's that time, again

Time for me to make eggnog. The year I started dating my husband, was my first 'real' holiday season as an adult. When my aunt and I moved to the Cape in 1994, I was 20 and not prepared for some of what adulthood threw at me. Specifically, I decided too late, to get a job and ran out of money. I had to move back home just after my 21st birthday. Luckily, Auntie had a pretty sweet job, and stayed behind. It was my saving grace, since after that one summer...just 3 short months...I decided that I was taking whatever money I had saved to move back to Massachusetts. She got me a nanny job that lasted 2 weeks, but I didn't care what I had to do, as long as I didn't have to go back home. All sorts of things happened between that July and the end of 1995, including Auntie starting work at Barnes & Noble. That is where she met lots of new friends, most of whom were also far from home and didn't have family close by for the holidays. Thanksgiving was the first to find us all gathered at our cute little rented cottage...when Hubby and I decided that what we had going since the beginning of the month (thanks to Auntie's birthday out, actually!) was real. Then for Christmas, one of her co-workers gave her a recipe for eggnog. I made it that year. I think we served it for our New Year's Eve party, though. At any rate, it was delicious. I have made that eggnog EVERY YEAR since then, EXCEPT for the year we were on Nantucket and didn't see anybody at all for the holidays. Every year since 1995, I have separated that dozen of eggs and whipped them up. Most years, I didn't have an electric mixer and had to whip those whites stiff with my own brute strength. But I didn't care, because I knew the end product would be that delicious, creamy spiked loveliness. This recipe calls for a dozen eggs, a cup of sugar, a quart of milk AND a quart of HEAVY cream...plus, a quart of whiskey and a cup of rum (or brandy). Most years I say I'm cutting the recipe in half b/c I end up drinking most of it and I don't need that much. I have heard that it is too strong (not in my opinion!), so that too steers me towards not making as much. This year, though, I decided to just cut the alcohol. Not as much whiskey. BUT, even though I had brandy left over from last year (since it's not something I tend to drink otherwise), I wanted to try the Kraken rum we found this past year. It's got an almost vanilla taste to it that I thought would work great in eggnog.
We'll see how it's received this year. It doesn't REALLY matter, though, I will probably be making this every year until I just can't any more!
This is why I have, in the past, cut the recipe...I have to save old bottles to decant the nog into! The two round ones in front are actually half of a set I got from the Cisco Brewery, the local brewery on Nantucket. And the rest are old whiskey, bourbon, or rum bottles. I love it though...yummy. It has to 'season' for at least 3 days before you can drink it...it is a dozen raw eggs after all. The alcohol has to kill the bacteria!! It'll be ready for Christmas Eve.