Christmas may be technically over, but in Salem, the emotional fallout is only just beginning. Friday’s Days of Our Lives episode on December 26, 2025 delivers a powerful mix of calculated manipulation, raw grief, and looming tragedy—proving once again that the holidays rarely bring peace for long in this town. Behind the twinkling lights and belated carols, fractures are widening, secrets are hardening into strategies, and one young life hangs in the balance with consequences that could haunt Salem for years.

This episode unfolds like a three-act emotional storm: Xander Kiriakis executing a chillingly strategic apology, the Horton house becoming a pressure cooker of grief and healing, and the Carver family staring into the terrifying possibility that the Theo they love may never come back.

Xander Kiriakis: Redemption or a Master Class in Manipulation?

Few characters embody Salem’s moral contradictions like Xander Kiriakis, and Friday’s episode puts that paradox front and center. On the surface, the setup screams jealousy and impulsive rage. Sarah Horton and Brady Black share a dangerously intimate moment in the town square—one lingering look away from a kiss that could shatter what’s left of Xander’s fragile stability.

Yet instead of storming in with accusations and fury, Xander makes a choice that’s far more unsettling: he heads to the Kiriakis mansion to face Maggie.

This is no ordinary visit. Xander arrives armed with a carefully chosen gift and an apology timed with surgical precision. All signs point to the gift being a portrait honoring Victor Kiriakis—possibly Victor alone, or Victor and Maggie together. It’s a move that hits directly at Maggie’s heart and Salem’s deepest emotional fault line: Victor’s legacy.

And that’s what makes this moment so loaded.

Xander isn’t just apologizing. He’s positioning himself.

By honoring Victor, Xander is signaling respect for the Kiriakis patriarch, aligning himself with tradition, grief, and family loyalty. It’s an olive branch—but also a chess move. He knows Maggie’s approval is the closest thing he has to legitimacy in Salem. Without it, he’s isolated. With it, he gains cover for what’s coming next.

Because make no mistake: a Titan war is brewing.

Spoilers suggest that even if Maggie accepts this peace offering, conflict over Titan Industries is inevitable. Xander’s apology feels less like redemption and more like pre-war diplomacy—a calculated effort to neutralize Maggie before he launches his next corporate assault. If she’s emotionally disarmed now, she’s less likely to stand in his way later.

That’s the tragedy of Xander Kiriakis. He genuinely wants to be better. But his instincts remain rooted in survival, manipulation, and control. Whether this gesture comes from remorse or strategy—or a dangerous blend of both—will shape not just his future, but Maggie’s as well.

The Horton House: Grief, Trauma, and a Child on the Brink

While Xander plots behind polished smiles, the real emotional heart of the episode beats inside the Horton house, where a belated Christmas tree trimming becomes the backdrop for something far more important: healing—or heartbreak.

Julie Horton hosts, determined to preserve tradition even as the family remains fractured by loss. Jack and Jennifer return to Salem with Thomas and Charlotte, setting the stage for an agonizing reunion with Chad DiMera.

This isn’t a sweet homecoming. It’s a confrontation with trauma.

Thomas, still reeling from the brutal murder of his mother, has been acting out—angry, withdrawn, demanding. Some might see defiance. But what unfolds Friday makes it heartbreakingly clear: Thomas is terrified. Terrified of losing his father. Terrified of loving anyone enough to risk that pain again.

When Thomas finally breaks down, the dam bursts. He admits what’s been buried beneath all that anger—he misses his dad, desperately. He wants to stay. He wants to try. And he’s ready, at last, to work through the pain rather than run from it.

For Chad, this moment is everything.

The reassurances he offers aren’t just words; they’re promises forged in shared grief. He tells Thomas what that child needs most to hear—that he isn’t going anywhere. That Salem is home. That love doesn’t vanish just because tragedy strikes.

The scene crescendos with Thomas leading the family in a Christmas song—a moment that could easily feel sentimental, but instead lands as symbolic. The ice around his heart hasn’t melted completely, but it’s cracking. And in Salem, that’s a miracle in itself.

Theo Carver: A Life in Limbo and a Friendship in Peril

As carols echo through Horton living rooms, a far darker story unfolds elsewhere. Theo Carver remains unconscious in the hospital, and the silence surrounding his condition grows heavier by the hour.

JJ Deveraux is unraveling.

The hostages may be free, but Theo isn’t waking up—and JJ is haunted by everything left unsaid between them. Their friendship, once rooted in loyalty and shared history, fractured under recent events, and now JJ is terrified he’ll never get the chance to make things right.

Lani Price stays by his side, offering comfort shaped by her own scars and resilience. But even her presence can’t quiet the fear that grips JJ: what if the Theo he knew is already gone?

That fear isn’t unfounded. Recent episodes have taken Theo in a disturbingly dark direction, leaving fans unsettled. The once gentle, empathetic Theo feels almost unrecognizable—and Friday’s developments suggest this may not be a temporary shift.

There’s a growing sense that the show is laying the groundwork for long-term consequences. If Theo wakes, he may not wake as the same man. Brain trauma, emotional damage, and violence could permanently alter his personality—transforming him into a tormented figure shaped by what he survived.

For Abe and the Carver family, this would be a devastating new chapter. For JJ, it could mean mourning someone who’s still alive. And for Salem, it signals the birth of a tragedy that won’t resolve quickly—or cleanly.

A Salem Holiday Like No Other

Friday’s episode is emotional whiplash at its finest. Calculated gestures collide with raw confession. Hope flickers beside despair. And beneath it all, the sense that nothing in Salem is ever truly resolved—only transformed.

Xander’s apology may buy him time, but not peace. Thomas’s breakthrough offers hope, but healing will take patience. And Theo’s fate looms as a haunting question mark that threatens to reshape multiple lives.

This isn’t just a post-holiday episode. It’s a turning point.

Because when the decorations come down in Salem, what’s left behind isn’t calm—it’s consequence.