Happy ho ho holidays! Being that New Year’s Eve is tomorrow, I thought we could all use a cocktail. This Spiced Cranberry Rum Old-Fashioned is 1 part fancy and 2 parts delicious. It’s spiked with spiced rum, hence the word “spiced” in the title, and gets shaken with my very favorite holiday ingredient: cranberry!

Spiced Cranberry Rum Old-Fashioned: Spiced rum, tart cranberry juice, and warm cinnamon and cloves get shaken to create a festive holiday cocktail perfect for celebrating New Year's Eve.

The good folks at Food Fanatic recently celebrated 12 Days of Cocktails, and I couldn’t be more giddy. Let’s stop and give them a round of applause, shall we? They’ve earned it!

Spiced Cranberry Rum Old-Fashioned: Spiced rum, tart cranberry juice, and warm cinnamon and cloves get shaken to create a festive holiday cocktail perfect for celebrating New Year's Eve.

Cocktails were made for the holidays. Not only will you need one (or a few) in order to tolerate those out of town guests–and maybe the in-laws (wink)–but they sure do a damn good job at getting everyone into the holiday spirit.

Holiday stress? Have a cocktail.

Holiday traffic? There’s a cocktail for that.

The store was all out of that perfect gift because you waited until last minute? This Spiced Cranberry Rum Old-Fashioned will help you forget all about it.

Cocktails are the cure-all during the holiday season. The best part? No prescription needed.

Spiced Cranberry Rum Old-Fashioned: Spiced rum, tart cranberry juice, and warm cinnamon and cloves get shaken to create a festive holiday cocktail perfect for celebrating New Year's Eve.

I’m going to go ahead and deem the 12 Days of Cocktails an official holiday, and the best one at that! I’m having trouble choosing which cocktail I want to serve this year. Do I pick this Cranberry-Orange Bourbon Smash? Oooh, or maybe this Pomegranate Cider Bourbon Splash. Notice a pattern here? I like-a the bourbon!

Then again, wine is good, too! A pitcher of this Easy Apple Sangria would definitely please a crowd.

You know what, I think I’ll stick with this old-fashioned. A classic old-fashioned is made with whiskey, but since I’m not classy, I decided to switch it up and use spiced rum instead. Because we could all use a little spice this holiday season, I added a few cloves and a cinnamon stick to the shaker, in addition to the rum and fresh squeezed orange juice. If you want to maintain some semblance of class, plop in a maraschino cherry.

Spiced Cranberry Rum Old-Fashioned: Spiced rum, tart cranberry juice, and warm cinnamon and cloves get shaken to create a festive holiday cocktail perfect for celebrating New Year's Eve.

This is no wimpy cocktail, friends. It’s quite potent, which is exactly what I require during the holidays. Merry holidays, you filthy animals. Now, go forth and have some fun!

Head on over to Food Fanatic to print this Spiced Cranberry Rum Old-Fashioned recipe in time for New Year’s Eve.