Top 20 Christmases of Soaps Past
Decking the daytime halls on our favorite soap operas present and past.
Just like the holidays bring all the emotions when we gather with friends and family, so do the soaps whenever Christmas comes around. This season, Soaps.com rounded up some of our favorite moments from current and past soaps such as All My Children, As the World Turns, Days of our Lives, Bold and the Beautiful, General Hospital, Guiding Light, One Life to Live, Passions, and Young and the Restless, ranging from heartwarming to hysterical.
1. Father Clarence’s (Malachy McCourt) annual Christmas miracle on All My Children
It may have been corny but it was always heartwarming, from Erica (Susan Lucci) reuniting Bianca (Eden Riegel) with her thought-to-be-dead baby in 2004 to leading Kendall (Alicia Minshew) to Zach’s (Thorsten Kaye) words of love for her.
2. The annual appearance of Nick, the sidewalk Santa on Guiding Light
Nick’s arrival usually had many believing he was the real deal. His first appearance was in 1983 when he aided runaway teens Phillip (Grant Aleksander) and Beth (Judi Evans) find help at a halfway house.
3. The Hughes’ annual gathering for Christmas on As the World Turns
In 2007 they moved the celebration to be around Bob’s (Don Hastings) bedside in the hopes of waking him from his coma. It worked!
4. Sheridan returned to Luis on Passions
It was a Passions’ Christmas miracle when Luis (Galen Gering) learned Sheridan (McKenzie Westmore) was not really dead like he had thought, only made to look that way by the FBI, and they were reunited.
5. Recreating Christina Comes Home for Christmas on One Life to Live
Everyone in Llanview loved to gather and watch the perennial favorite and in 2008 the cast did an amazing job recreating the ending of the fictional classic film in period dress. Fun bit of trivia: In 2012, Liz (Rebecca Herbst) was upset when her own copy of the fake film went missing on General Hospital, stolen by Britt (Kelly Thiebaud).
More: Top 12 most memorable soap opera Christmases
6. The pediatric ward Christmas parties on General Hospital
After Steve Hardy left Alan Quartermaine (Stuart Damon) always read to the sick children, but once he died in 2007 the job went to someone else. But the next Christmas viewers got a treat when Monica (Leslie Charleson) was gifted a special pair of glasses to see Alan and was able to bicker with her dead husband one last time.
7. The introduction of The Krampus on General Hospital
Perhaps the most original takeover of the reading to the children on General Hospital was Dr. Obrecht’s (Kathleen Gati) takeover in 2014, replacing the sweet Christmas Story with one about The Krampus, a Christmas devil from the South Pole who eats children.
8. Hanging the ornaments on Days of our Lives
Beloved Alice (Frances Reid) was physically present at many annual Horton ornament hangings on Days of our Lives and is still remembered even after her death. In 2010 Julie (Susan Seaforth Hayes) hung Alice’s ornament next to Tom’s (MacDonald Carey) before Alice’s empty chair was shown.
9. Danny’s voice returns in church on The Young and the Restless
After Danny (Michael Damian) lost his voice due to poisoning by Shawn Garrett (Tom McConnell), he experienced his own miraculous recovery during a Christmas Eve church service on The Young and the Restless and was able to sing again.
10. Drawing awareness to homelessness on The Bold and the Beautiful
Culminating a storyline spotlight on LA’s homeless population, Stephanie (Susan Flannery) gifted once-homeless Dayzee (Kristolyn Lloyd) with the Insomnia Café on The Bold and the Beautiful on Christmas Day, 2010.
11. Days of our Lives annual reading of The Christmas Story
The reader changes most years, and in 1983 Roman (Wayne Northrop) dressed as Santa and snuck into Carrie’s (Andrea Barber) room when she was in a coma just to read it to her.
12. Christmas caroling on The Bold and the Beautiful
Eric (John McCook) sitting behind the piano is always a shining moment each season on the soap. In 2012 he faltered over the keys, his first Christmas without his wife, but in 2013 he confidently led the Forrester clan in song again.
13. A post-9/11 Christmas on Days of our Lives
The emotional Christmas episode of Days of our Lives featured special ornaments interspersed among the Hortons on the tree and a special instrumental version of O Little Town of Bethlehem to close out the show.
14. A Genoa City do-over on Young and the Restless
It was a very special Y&R Christmas episode for Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) in 2011 as her out-of-control boozy behavior took center stage. And after wrecking her car on the way to Victoria and Billy’s wedding a guardian angel showed her how much her family needed her.
More: Jack Abbott trimming Christmas tree on Y&R
15. Embracing multiple holiday traditions on Young and the Restless
Soaps occasionally realize people celebrate holidays other than Christmas, like when Brad Carlton (Don Diamont) celebrated Hanukkah with his mother Rebecca Kaplan (Lorna Raver) and Ashley (Eileen Davidson) and Abby Abbott (Darcy Rose Byrnes) on Y&R back in 2006.
16. Bo and Hope wed on Christmas Eve on Days of our Lives
Many weddings happen on Christmas, but there was a winter wonderland setting for Bo (Peter Reckell) and Hope (Kristian Alfonso) when they remarried on Christmas Eve in 2000, which was also her birthday. Despite splattering ketchup all over her dress thanks to a run through the Burger Barn drive-thru with Jennifer (Melissa Reeves) and Julie (Seaforth Hayes), she arrived at the altar radiant. A Christmas miracle!
17. Saying cheese with Santa on Days of our Lives
It’s not always happy ornament hanging in Salem and awkward moments can be just as memorable – like Lucas (Bryan Dattilo) snapping a pic of Sami (Alison Sweeney), Kate (Lauren Koslow), Gabi (Camila Banus), Will (Chandler Massey), Sonny (Freddie Smith) and Ari (Harper and Sydnee Udell) in 2013 with the Santa in the Square who was also the birdwatcher who stumbled upon them offing Nick at the river. And he made sure they knew it too.
18. Wishing on a star on All My Children
Tad (Michael E. Knight) and Dixie (Cady McClain) on AMC had some hardcore fans who looked forward to them seeking out their special Christmas wishing star each year. They needed it in 1990, when Billy Clyde Tuggle (Matthew Cowles) had everyone thinking Tad had died in an explosion after his Christmas wedding to Dixie.
19. Michael gets enlightened on Young and the Restless
Michael Baldwin (Christian LeBlanc) got a Christmas episode in 2000 when he wished he had never been born and was shown what life in Genoa City would be like without him, a la It’s a Wonderful Life. Things were very bleak indeed and he was thankful for what he had after that.
20. Blake gives birth on Guiding Light
In 1999, Blake (Elizabeth Keifer) had been hiding her pregnancy from Ross (Jerry verDorn) on Guiding Light by going into seclusion in a cabin. Luckily he figured out the truth in time and was able to help safely deliver their baby girl on Christmas Day.
Did your favorite holiday moment miss this list? Feel free to share in the comments below.
Written by Hollie Deese December 18, 2015, refreshed by Amy Mistretta, December 13, 2018.
