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One
of the many things that has made Days of Our Lives stand out
from other daytime shows is its sense of tradition. There's a belief
that Days fans are mainly people who don't like sudden change...who
enjoy tradition and consistency. While that may not be true for all
fans, one tradition that we all look forward to is the hanging of the
Christmas ornaments at the Hortons. This has been a tradition on
Days of Our Lives since its very first Christmas back in
1965.
The original ornaments for Tom, Alice and their 5 kids were made by Tom's mother. Additional ornaments are hand-made by Alice Horton for every new member of the Horton family. In later years, she has also made ornaments for persons who weren't Hortons yet, but who would soon become members of the family, such as Jack Deveraux and Faith Taylor (to this day, we don't know if Faith actually became a Horton but it sure looked like she would.) There are two Hortons who have more than one ornament: Shawn-Douglas Brady and Hope Brady. In Shawn-D's case, Alice made an ornament for him before he was born, and one after. In Hope's case, Alice made one for her just as she would for any other Horton, and another when Hope was living under the name "Gina Horton."
In reality, the original Christmas ornaments were individually hand-painted by a scenic artist and cost about $150 each. However, in recent years, they have been created by the graphics department, so they are cheaper and faster to produce. The same ornaments have been seen year after year. Laura's was once replaced as part of a storyline, when Jennifer accidentally broke it in 1987. (However, the next year, the original ornament was hung once again, as if it had never been broken). A few other ornaments have been replaced over the years. In the early 1990s, several Days sets were destroyed in an earthquake. A few of the ornaments were damaged then and were replaced with new ones (Hope and Melissa and possibly some others).
During Christmas 1990, when Jack Deveraux got his Horton Christmas ball, actor Matthew Ashford ad-libbed, "I've been balled by the Hortons." There was a moment of silence, as the cast waited to see if tape would roll or the scene would be stopped. Suddenly the director's voice boomed, "Matthew, you can't say Hortons on television."
Below are just some of the Hortons' ornaments.
If time permits, more will be added. You can visit Jason47's
page for further info on Days' Holiday
traditions. Happy Holidays!
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Alice Horton |
Tom Horton |
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Addie Williams |
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 hung in 1996, 2005 |
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Tommy Horton |
Laura Horton |
Doug Wiliams |
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 first seen in 05 |
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Julie Williams |
David Banning |
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Melissa Anderson |
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Jessica Blake |
Dougie LeClair |
Jennifer Horton |
Hope Williams |
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 hung in 1990, 2005, 2006. |
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 first hung in 1990 |
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 Scott gave to Faith in 1989 |
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seen in box in 2005 (unsure when it was first hung) |
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Scotty Banning |
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 given to Bo and Hope in 1986 |
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 first hung in 1992. |
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 first hung in 2000 |
first hung in 2002. |
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first hung in 2004 (2005 ornament shown) |
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first hung in 2005 |
first hung in 2006 when he returned to Salem |
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first hung in 2006 after Nick was in Salem |
first hung in 2006 |
September 11 Ornaments
In 2001, Days incorporated the disasters of 9/11/01 into their hanging of Christmas ornaments. They actors stepped out of character in order to talk about the holiday and the heroes. In this episode, all of the family ornaments were already on the tree when we first saw it. Then John Clarke brought out a new box of ornaments for the tree. These ornaments would help to remember the lives lost on September 11. Each of the couples added one of the generic ornaments...NYPD, FDNY, EMT and Fr. Mychal Judge, plus the USA one at the end. Then as they sang at the end of the show, there were closeups on additional name ornaments, in memory of individuals lost on September 11. It was clear there were others on the tree, but these were the only closeups. These are real people who lost their lives that day, but it is not clear how Days chose them. These ornaments have not been placed on the Horton tree again.
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 the final ornament for the tree |
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This page was originally part of the website Who's Who in Salem. In July, 2003, it became part of my site and additions were made.
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