Tales of holiday sadness: McDonald's eggnog shakes

Today, after shipping a last-minute package and making a brief pilgrimage to Main Hardware's Christmasland in Wilkes-Barre, I decided to partake of my sporadic Christmas tradition of getting an eggnog shake at McDonald's. I first did this a decade or more ago, when their "large" shakes were huge and thick and came with straws nearly half an inch in diameter. Eventually they switched their shakes to a single, smaller size, topped with whipped cream and a maraschino cherry. Not the same, but marginally adequate.

I went to the McDonald's nearest my house. I pulled up to the ordering thing and realized it would be best to ask first if they had eggnog shakes before I ordered anything else. They said no. Fair enough. There are lots of McDonald's in the area, so I tried another one in the West Side Mall. Nope. I was heading for another one near the Wyoming Valley Mall. As I approached the River Street exit to take me to route 309, I realized that I was passing another McDonald's. I pulled in and surveyed the situation: no ads for eggnog shakes or anything else seasonal. I asked if they had eggnog shakes, and they said no. After having gone to three locations, I finally thought to ask: have eggnog shakes been discontinued? I was told yes, yes they have, they are no longer offered. I didn't bother to check any more McDonald's, and headed home.

I checked online for information. The results were decidedly mixed.

Per McDonald's Twitter account, the eggnog shake is available in "select markets."

...although that tweet is from last year. But the responses are current, from people all over the country, wondering where the eggnog shakes are. Apparently, they're not available anywhere.

The McDonald's Twitter account stated that menu items like this are offered at the discretion of the location, and people interested in getting an eggnog shake should make their wishes known to their local McDonald's. (Probably as of June, since it would probably take that long to get everything in position.)

There are about a dozen McDonald's within ten miles of me. I checked the three closest, but decided I had better things to do with my time than go from location to location. McDonald's, of course, could easily post a list of which locations have chosen to carry this item, but they don't have anything like that. I suppose McDonald's has made a business decision that they don't need the business of fans of their eggnog shake. Oh, well. I think we'll survive without it.