I am writing this surrounded by Christmas cake. Like, literally surrounded by it; today is the day Kate brings the boozy fruitcakes she’s been marinating in our fridge out to her parents, so she’s been dividing them up all morning.

And it’s not that I don’t enjoy a slice of boozy, heavy fruitcake; I do, I do. But over at Salon.com, Vincent Rossmeier’s written a very compelling argument in favor of pie, rather than cake, as a holiday dessert:

Sure, plastered with enough frosting and chocolate-ganache implants, cake cuts a fine appearance at a party. But do you ever hear anyone talk about what’s on cake’s inside? Cake’s dazzling superficiality and popularity has allowed us to ignore its tasteless core. All the while, pie has been standing in the corner waiting patiently for us to notice — a little homey looking, sure, but with a personality like you wouldn’t believe.

I know he’s talking about conventional North American cake, rather than fruitcake. (And, again, I really do like fruitcake.) But he’s touched a chord in me, and now I’m pretty sure I have to stop in at Wanda’s around the corner to see what their seasonal pie offerings might be.

It’s all ultimately in the spirit of giving, of course. So nobody’s being slighted. I fully intend to share.