Today’s Days of Our Lives recap for November 23, 2023, details a Salem Thanksgiving with new beginnings, new friends, and new plots.

An Odd Little Horton Thanksgiving

Stephanie (Abigail Klein) did her best to be kind to Chad (Billy Flynn) after he lost the Salem Turkey Trot. Even his kids made a trophy to make their dad feel better. When Chad left the room, Stephanie picked up his ringing phone and wondered why Gwen Rizcech (Emily O’Brien) would be calling her boyfriend.

When she asked Chad, he claimed he had no idea why Gwen was trying to contact him. That didn’t stop him from calling Gwen back the moment Stephanie was out of sight. He was buying the paper and that was that.

Julie (Susan Seaforth Hayes) was stunned when she walked into the Horton dining room to find Everett (Blake Berris) standing there. He might look like her dead cousin Nick but nobody has noticed that and neither did Julie. She just wanted to know who he was so Everett explained he was the new editor of The Spectator and wanted to do a feature on Doug and Julie, as Salem’s patriarch and matriarch.

Everett was not expecting Julie’s reaction. She was appalled at the article glorifying Leo and disgusted with how much the paper had gone downhill over the last year. She was even thinking of canceling her subscription.

Everett assured Julie he was determined to make the paper respectable again. Amazingly, Julie believed him. There was just something about his face that made her want to trust him. To that end, she invited Everett to Thanksgiving dinner, which came as quite a surprise to Chad and Stephanie.

When they learned Everett would be staying, Stephanie quietly explained to Julie this was her ex-boyfriend. The older woman was both annoyed by the news and intrigued. They soon sat down to dinner minus Doug because he was tired. That’s when Chad gave a tender toast while dreaming of a shocking toast in which he fired Everett.

Joy For Paulina, Angst For Chanel

Paulina (Jackee Harry) and Chanel (Raven Bowens) prepared their own Thanksgiving with Paulina (Jackee Harry) anticipating Abe’s arrival. When Paulina questioned Chanel about her relationship with Johnny (Carson Boatman), she admitted that she was worried about Holly (Ashley Puzemis) trying to catch Johnny’s eye. Yes, she was way too young for him, but Holly didn’t seem to care and Chanel knew it.

Paulina pointed out that Johnny and Chanel often end up as two sides of a triangle, but Chanel insisted it was different this time because Johnny wasn’t interested in Holly. She was just a teen with a crush on him but Chanel still didn’t like it. She didn’t want any complications at all.

At least Paulina was happy when Abe (James Reynolds) arrived, but they were alone together because Chanel chose to go to the bakery to keep her mind off Johnny. After Paulina convinced Abe to try some of her amazing pie, she admitted she wanted to kiss him, but also didn’t want to seem too pushy.

Abe soon admitted he wanted to kiss her the last time she tried and wanted to kiss her now. Paulina was touched, which led to a tender moment when their lips finally met after all these months.

Holly’s Sad And Angry Turkey Day

Johnny found a sad Holly sitting in the DiMera living room playing around on her phone. She was still distraught over the (supposed) loss of their baby brother and was worried about her mom. As she cried, Johnny gave her an embrace, but as a big brother, of course. When he learned that she didn’t have any plans for the day, he canceled on Chanel and offered to keep Holly company.

Johnny and Holly shared turkey sandwiches until Tate (Jaime Martin Mann) showed up with some dessert. Since Holly was no longer alone, Johnny decided to stop by Chanel and Paulina’s place for some pumpkin pie.

Holly was willing to be friendly with Tate again after he tried to kiss her, but she had a condition — he had to help her break up Johnny and Chanel. Tate pointed out two important facts — breaking them up was not a nice thing to do and Johnny was way too old for her. That prompted Holly to announce they were no longer friends. Finally, Tate relented and agreed to her plan.

While Holly and Tate argued, Johnny and Chanel ended up running into one another in Horton Square. He was sorry for earlier but felt he left Holly in good hands.

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