Christmas in Soapland - 2015

Below are quick summaries and my thoughts about Christmas in Soapland 2015.

There were no other holiday celebrations in any soap towns, hence the title.

"The Bold and the Beautiful" had holiday celebrations for only one day. Before the Christmas Eve episode, we found out that Rick and Maya would be taking her family to Hawaii to celebrate. So we saw them hanging out before they left with a Christmas tree in the background, but that was about it. The actual Christmas episode had Brooke home alone in her large house as none of her kids were around. Hope didn't want to come to LA, while Bridget got snowed in and couldn't attend. (In real life, NYC where Bridget lived had amazing weather, so this made no sense, but whatever.) Brooke was missing everyone as Ridge and Caroline had RJ off screen also. Eric came over to her home and invited her to the mansion. What was nice, was that Eric put the Stephanie picture up again, and he sang to her at the piano. Wyatt, Steffy, and Liam got along for the day. Katie and Bill also didn't quarrel with the kids, which was good. Brooke was convinced by her best friend Eric to join them. It was a low key holiday and ended with the cast along with Lee Bell sending best wishes to the audience.

"Days of Our Lives" spent most of the week on Christmas. There was a singalong in Horton Square, where Claire took center stage. Lucas and Adrienne played Mr. & Mrs. Claus even if they aren't together. Eve offered Claire work due to her singing talent. Ciara wasn't that interested in going, but if Hope hadn't forced her none of Claire's close relatives would have been there as Shawn Douglas is back in Maine, and Belle was busy. (We eventually saw Belle with her parents Marlena and John.) Victor had his family at the mansion. Theresa stayed away as she was forced by Kate, but Brady brought over Tate. Even though Victor gave Philip, Brady's job, we can see that Victor favors his grandson over his son. Maggie was surprised that Victor wants Caroline to move in with them, and this holiday season we found out that Daniel was away with Parker. We had the annual Horton ornament hanging, and the characters that were lost were mentioned. Lucas still was allowed to miss Will even though his death has been very much ignored. Abby won't have to go to jail for breaking a window in the square. Things were difficult as Chad continued to rebuff her, and awkward due to her child's "father" being a murderer. Chase got an ornament as his own as an honorary Horton. Doug made the speech and was the patriarch to the family he married into decades ago, which was a nice touch. Claire was with the Hortons for the holiday and she and JJ sang a song together. Justin filled in as the hospital Santa Claus, and Maggie read the story to the children. Steve and Kayla spent much of the holiday together or with their son Joey. While alone at the hospital, Kayla said yes, so they're engaged again. Earlier in the week, Kayla gave Ava forgiveness even though Ava is lying. Ava has a secret, which involves a picture of a baby.

"General Hospital" had the Nutcracker Ball for the real life charity of Toys for Tots. India.Arie performed a holiday tune. The red carpet show was directed by the Crimson gang in which Dillion took photos for the magazine. Monica donated money to the charity if people donated guns. Tracy found Paul and Ava after they had sex. Julian proposed to Alexis after getting permission from her daughters. A fight broke out between Nik and Jason, with Nik needing hospitalization as he fell off a balcony. During Christmas itself, Sonny's sons commiserated as all their lives are messed up as Michael was broken up with Sabrina after finding out the truth about her pregnancy during the ball, Dante is separated from Lulu, and Morgan is battling mental illness. In the park, Ava ran into Kiki doing another job being a Santa's helper. There was a strained moment where Jason is out with Liz and her boys and they run into Sam and Danny. Sam had no idea that Jason got out on bail after hitting Nik. Later, Kiki brought Avery to the Corinthos house so Sonny got to be with all his kids.  In happy news, Nathan arranged for Spinelli and Ellie to come to town with Georgie so Maxie wouldn't be alone at Christmas. Patrick found Robin, and the Scorpio-Drake family was reuniting thrilling Emma. Anna and Robert also where there with their daughter and grandchild in Paris.

"The Young and the Restless" celebrated Christmas Eve, but not Christmas Day due to the pre-emption. Victor thought work was more important than family and was in his office while his relatives were celebrating on another floor. He even forced Victoria and Abby to work, eventually he relented and let them leave. He continued alone, and Faith worked her charm dragging him to the party, which thrilled Nikki. Due to weather, Sage and Nick didn't return to Genoa City in time to attend. Phyllis tried to get Jack and Billy to make amends, and it worked a bit. She also told Jack, she would buy the cabin if he needed to sell it. Traci came for a visit and convinced Ashley to stop working though she was having a good time drinking with Dr. Neville. Eventually, the Abbotts (except Ashley) were at the cabin, as Kyle convinced Summer to leave the Newman party, as did Abby. Devon was alone as he couldn't get to Miami, though he saw Hillary at the club. Lily and Cane decided to give their kids one last Christmas as a family while Neil encouraged a reconciliation. We even saw Jill and Collin this week, though they didn't do Christmas-like things. Collin was surprised that their marriage was surviving unlike Lily and Cane or Billy and Victoria. It was odd not having a "true" Christmas show as for awhile Y&R had a special episode focusing on one character.

It was an okay soap opera Christmas that being said it would be nice if we would have some multicultural holiday cheer in daytime again.