Days of Our Lives - Fri., Dec. 22, 2023

JasonDíSpeech

JasonDíSpeech

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43 Minutes. The ornament scenes are pretty good, and some really deep flashbacks. Not an unpleasant episode.

Horton House - Doug is seated in a chair. Julie comes in with the last box of ornaments. She's holding Doug's ornament as she talks about the ornaments' symbolism. There's a flashback to an early Horton Christmas when Doug first received his (first) ornament and the Hortons offered to adopt him. Julie feels each Horton is a blessing. Later, Chad has brought the kids over. They don't want to hang with Doug and Julie and want to play in their old room. They leave the room, Chad reveals the kids miss Abigail...and Stephanie.

Townhouse - Jeannie T. brings presents for Tate. Brady learns that Tate's skipping the Kiriakis dinner to work at the Pub ("tomorrow"). Tate likens Kiriakis family time to a boring Greek tragedy. Jeannie T. also isn't going even though she's dating Alex who invited her. Brady accuses her of gold-digging (man I hate this story angle). They start to argue and Tate tries to storm off, calling his parents jerks. They talk him down and Jeannie T. promises they'll get along. Later, they are eating Chinese food and remembering a time when Brady visited and took them to Universal Studios when Tate was allegedly 10 years old.

Square - Everett and Stephanie are hanging out. Everett celebrates Hannukah, which Stephanie seems to have forgotten despite lighting a menorah with him once. They talk about Rudolph which is not Stephanie's favorite Christmas movie, (Elf is). She plans a quiet night tonight and will be with her family tomorrow. She is looking forward to her quiet rewatch of Elf. Everett says goodbye (he was invited somewhere but won't be going). Chad calls her (see below).

Horton House - Xander and Sarah have come over with Victoria, whose last name is now Horton-Cook. Xander is thankful for the invitation. Julie is calmly hateful toward Xander. Maggie arrives with Konstantin, who thanks them for their hospitality. (They never met him before.) Doug, in his chair, tells Julie that Konstantin reminds him of his younger con-man self. By the tree, Xander accuses Konstantin of not being a hero. In another room, Sarah learns how Konstantin got invited to the house and how she likes Konstantin. Back in the living room, Chad tells Julie and Doug that the kids are video chatting with Jack and Jennifer. Julie tells Chad he must do something about the fact that Stephanie never got to say goodbye to the kids. Chad calls Stephanie to ask her a favor.

Horton House - In another room, Stephanie has come over with gifts for the kids. Chad has realized they were too hasty and he didn't think of the kids. Downstairs by the tree, Sarah and Xander talk about Konstantin and Maggie. Sarah has faith Maggie will see through Konstantin if there's any more signs of trouble. By the couch/chair, Konstantin admires Maggie's first husband's family. Maggie says she's an honorary Horton; Julie corrects her, she is a Horton. They talk about Victor, and Maggie has a 3-second flashback of Victor's ornament and hugging her. They talk etymology for a bit. Later, Sarah and Konstantin talk about the kidnapping again. Sarah's grateful for Konstantin's rescue of Victoria. Xander tells Konstantin he will be keeping his eyes open.

Horton House - Back in the hallway/entryway, Chad apologizes for getting involved with Stephanie too soon after Abigail's death. He asks her to stay for the party. Back downstairs, Everett has arrived and is welcomed by the seated Doug. Everett, who is already fully in the house, leaves the living room to doff his coat. Julie is shocked and Doug forgot that Everett was Stephanie's ex (he ran into him in the Square). Stephanie and Chad re-enter with the kids, Thomas is thrilled at her return. She's staying for Christmas. Everett re-enters (now we know why he still had his coat on) to the shock of Chad and Stephanie. Everett and Stephanie each surprise one another with their presence. Back in his chair, Doug didn't know Stephanie was going to be there. Julie expresses an emotion. Thomas is excited for his present from Stephanie. Stephanie promises to spend time every year with the kids at or around Christmas as Chad looks on.

Horton House - Maggie talks about the ornaments and Sarah talks about the "retired ornaments" which are in the basement. Konstantin and Maggie go back to the tree area and Sarah tells Xander he'll always be a Horton (after Xander feels awkward and offers to leave).

Townhouse - Brady asks if Tate will be seeing Holly. He's depressed that Holly's into someone else. He throws away his birthday/Christmas present for her. Jeannie T scolds him and says he should save the present for the next girl. They ask if he will be returning to his private school? Tate says nobody at school misses him and implies the girls at school are all vapid; he wants to stay in Salem. Brady wants to increase Tate's odds of entering college by sending him back to his really good school. Tate asks if he has to go back? Brady and Jeannie T let him decide. He will stay and attend Salem High.

Horton House - Time to hang the ornaments. Montage of ornament shots (on the tree already now) - here's what I caught: Tom, Alice; Doug, Julie; Eli, Jules, Carver, Lani, David Abraham, Charlotte, Chad (seen hanging his), Abby, Thomas Jack, Stephanie (seen hanging hers near-ish Abby's). Shawn-Douglas, Belle, Claire, Mickey, Maggie, Victor; Bo, Hope, Jennifer, Jack Jr, Jack, Mackenzie, Sarah, Xander (seen hanging his and he smiles at Sarah, who smiles back). Maggie gives Sarah an ornament for Victoria, which Xander hangs. Thomas chides her that Charlotte's not the littlest anymore. We also get glimpses of other ornaments but I don't have time to pan for them (Lucas and Bill were the only ones I could see).

Townhouse - Jeannie T has gotten Tate some presents, the final of which was a tablet or laptop of some sort. Tate is happy he got to spend a nice night with both of his parents. Looks between Jeannie T and Brady.

Horton House - We catch the end of a group song. Maggie and Konstantin are about to leave. Julie tells him to send a thank-you note from wherever he's going. Out in the hallway, Stephanie offers to come help with the kids anytime and Chad's grateful she came over. Everett will be leaving as well, offers to walk with Stephanie. Chad will round up the kids and take them home. Chad has a quiet one-shot after Stephanie and Everett leave. Back by the tree, Xander and Sarah have packed up Victoria, who's going with Xander for the evening. He'll take lots of videos and they'll see each other tomorrow.

Salem Inn, Outside - Konstantin and Maggie talk; he would have walked but she had her driver drop him off. She leaves; he does not go into the Inn.

Horton House - In the darkened living room, Julie and Doug look at the tree and talk about Tom and Alice. Flashback to a Christmas when Jennifer brought baby Abby to the hospital to see Tom (with Alice, Mickey, and Maggie). They have a little tree by Tom's hospital bed. Tom asks Mickey to hang his ornament. Jennifer hangs Laura's and Bill's. Maggie hangs Doug and Julie's. Doug and Julie are surprise visitors, who announce they remarried in Switzerland. Julie loves the traditions and the memories, which go on and on. The episode closes on a long-shot of the tree from behind Doug's chair. END
 
Oh, wow, Jason, aren't you the early bird this a.m. You already watched, wrote it up, and it just was 6:15 a.m. Yes, I have been up since 4, could not get back to sleep, and was about to begin watching when your summary popped up. Thank you, sounds like it is pretty good. Appreciate it, truly.
 
The flashback to hanging the ornaments in Tom's hospital room was from 1993.

JasonDíSpeech said:
There's a flashback to an early Horton Christmas when Doug first received his (first) ornament and the Hortons offered to adopt him.
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Doug's original ornament broke and someone else's was repainted to be his current ornament. My guess is they reused Trish's (Scotty's mother) or the other ornament they had for Laura.

Despite a comment made years ago that only one ornament broke over the years, that can't be true as a few people have had more than one ornament. Alice's used to be Addie's, and Addie's was also a replacement, so hers broke before Alice's. I think Addie's current ornament was also someone else's since the back of her ornament weirdly has what looks like a picture from a Christmas card cut/glued over it. Hope's original ornament broke and they painted over Dougie LeClair's name to create Hope's current ornament (originally their ornaments matched each other).

Steven Olson (Julie and Hope's brother) has had 3 of them now; the first two misspelled his name as Stephen, then last year a brand new one with the name spelled correctly was on the tree. Sarah's original ornament was silver and now it's red. Janice's original ornament was red, so I think they reused hers to make Sarah's. A few years ago they made a new one (purple) for Janice. Tommy Horton's is a newer ornament, so his was broken. Sandy Horton's (Tommy's daughter) ornament also broke and was replaced (unless they reused her ornament as someone else's back in the day). Sandy's old one was about the color of Addie's current ornament, so maybe that's whose ornament was used to make Addie's.

They reused old ornaments in the past. You can tell because the reused ornaments are somewhat badly painted and you can detect glitter under the paint. Shawn-Douglas's was clearly someone else's. So was Bo's. Faith's ornament (Scotty's girlfriend) was reused as Jack's ornament. Peter Blake's name was painted over and Will's name applied over it. I believe Lucas's ornament was someone else's too. Jennifer's was someone else's too. Whoever that original ornament belonged to, it matched David's and Scotty's. Maybe Jennifer's was originally Trish's.

I believe now they use unbreakable ornaments for the new ones. Also, when ornaments are broken on-screen (Laura's, Chloe's, Gabi's, Claire's and Ciara's), the prop department makes a duplicate to be broken. You can tell which ornaments are really old because they usually have a piece of tape around the top where the little metal hanger goes into the top of the ball. Tom, Alice, Mickey and Addie's were donated to the Smithsonian, so duplicates now hang on the tree.

JJ also has had two ornaments. His original ornament had his legal name, Jack Patrick. Then for some reason, they made an exact duplicate the next year that says Jack Jr. instead.

I remember reading they had some business custom make each ornament and it was expensive (over $100 per ornament), which is why they reused ornaments, but eventually the prop department began creating their own new ornaments.

There are sellers on Etsy who recreate Horton ornaments with whatever name you want, although they're kind of pricey. But they are beautiful and incredibly accurate to the originals.
 
Nameless said:
Help me remember. Why does Stephanie have an ornament?
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Stephanie's ornament is a bit of a mystery. It just showed up on the tree in 2013. Her ornament matches Nathan's, so it was presumably given to her when she and Nathan were a couple. But that wasn't shown on-screen, so maybe it was a cut scene? She and Nathan had already been broken up and both gone from Salem (in 2011) when the ornament just appeared on the tree in 2013, then it disappeared again until this year.

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Same thing happened with Carrie. She was never shown being given an ornament, then one year, we saw it being put on the tree, next to Mike's. And this was long after Mike and Carrie left Salem. It was shown on the tree for a couple years, then disappeared again. There was also an ornament made for Sami, presumably after she married Lucas, but it was never put on the tree. It was just shown in the box of ornaments one year, then never seen again. Johnny also has an ornament. When the twins were born, they both got an ornament. Then after it was 100% verified Johnny was EJ's child, his ornament was never shown again.
 
Got a kick that Doug recognized his old conman self in the Konstantin's face. A shame Charlotte is so shy she never says a single word, may nod, but that is all. So bless her ever so outgoing brother. Glad they were able to have kids appear for this.

And yes, I know Chad....and his children.....are missing Abby, but it was terrible that Chad had not thought more of them than himself.

A shame Maggie foists this guy on her entire family, but so far, Konstantin seems to be behaving.

Just wish Days would stop with having actors doing double duty.......playing a second character after being shown as a different one for a while. Enough already.

Adrienne/Bonnie, Jake/Stefan, Marlena/Hattie, Kristen/Susan Banks, plus Sister Mary Moira & Thomas Banks, plus their murdered sis Penelope...(ugh)Tony/Andre, Ben/Alex, Rafe/Arnold Finnegar, Roman/Chris Kostichek, Ava/Taylor Walker (Nicole's sis), and then there is John Black who also was Roman Brady at one point in time.
 
Great job, Jason!

I agree that today was pretty good.

The young actor portraying Thomas temporarily was adorable, as was Charlotte. Blanket baby, too!

Nice ornament-hanging scene.

Loved the flashbacks.

Glad that Doug is sorta onto Konstantin and hope that the wolf in sheep's clothing is caught soon and gone from Salem for good.
 
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The tree-trimming party was well done. The flashbacks were fun, Doug and Julie were gracious hosts, Xander provided a touch of class, and Chad’s children were their usual cute selves. Unfortunately, Everett was there to provide some Nick-like social awkwardness, and Maggie chose to bring the skunk, Konstantin, to taint the festivities. (Julie should check to see if anything has been stolen.)

Elsewhere, Tater Tot made a fine choice for his high school. Salem High requires no class attendance, term papers, or annoying exams. Best of all, anyone who goes there is guaranteed admission to Salem U. whose academic standards might be even lower than the high school.
 
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