**Days of Our Lives

Thanksgiving Week Report: November 24–28
A Holiday That Becomes a Battlefield**

Welcome back to Days of Our Lives, where Thanksgiving in Salem is less about turkey and gratitude and more about survival. This year’s holiday doesn’t bring peace—it detonates secrets, fractures families, and flips the entire canvas upside down. From a shocking shooter confession to a kidnapping no one suspects to a dinner table filled with lies, the week of November 24th to 28th becomes one of the most explosive holiday arcs in recent years.

Let’s break down every moment, every clue, and every emotional shockwave as Salem edges toward a December that promises devastation.

**RACHEL’S SHATTERING CONFESSION

“The one who shot EJ… was me.”**

The weekly promo opens with a scene that feels inevitable yet heartbreaking. For weeks, Rachel Black has been slowly unraveling—flashbacks, panicked reactions, unexplained anxiety—but this week, everything cracks open.

Sitting across from Brady, trembling and dissociating, Rachel suddenly remembers everything about the night EJ DiMera was shot. Not fragmented pieces. Not confusion.
A full, crystal-clear memory.

Her voice barely rises above a whisper as she reveals the truth that changes everything:

“Dad… Kristen didn’t shoot Uncle EJ. I did.”

The words detonate inside the room.

Brady’s face collapses—confusion becoming disbelief, disbelief becoming sheer horror. Every instinct in him refuses to accept that his daughter pulled the trigger. He clings to the idea that Kristen is guilty, because the alternative is unimaginable. But Rachel keeps going—haunted, shaking, spiraling.

She remembers the gun.
Her trembling hands.
The shot.
The scream.
The blackout.

This is not a child trying to protect her mother.
This is trauma breaking through in real time.

Rachel spirals into an acute psychological collapse—hyperventilating, crying uncontrollably, losing sense of the room around her. Doctors speak in hushed tones about trauma response, panic-induced dissociation, risk of self-harm. She is sedated only to protect her from emotional freefall.

When Tate arrives and sees Rachel pale, fragile, hooked to machines she shouldn’t need at her age, the weight of the moment deepens. He sits beside her quietly—no jokes, no teasing, just loyalty and heartbreak.

A child shot a DiMera.
A child shattered two powerful families.
And Salem is now faced with a question it has never confronted before.

What happens when the shooter is a child—and the victim is a DiMera?

Rachel’s confession is not an ending.
It is the spark that ignites a war within the Brady–Black–DiMera triangle.

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**THE HORTON HOUSE HEARTBREAK

Charlotte’s Wish—and the Truth No One Knows**

Thanksgiving at the Horton house should feel warm and hopeful. Instead, it is heavy with unspoken fear.

Little Charlotte DiMera proudly holds up a handwritten note with her Thanksgiving wish:

“I want Daddy to come home.”

She smiles with pure innocence, believing the world still makes sense. But Jennifer’s forced smile and Thomas’s bowed head tell another story. They assume Chad is giving Thomas space after tension and emotional distance.

They believe this is a family misunderstanding.

But viewers know the impossible truth:

Chad can’t come home.
He’s been kidnapped.

Charlotte’s wish becomes one of the most devastating emotional beats of the week, because she is wishing for something that has already been taken from her.

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**THE DIMERA CRYPT

A Tomb Becomes a Prison**

When Chad awakens, he’s surrounded by darkness, cold stone, and the echo of chains. His wrists ache. His head throbs. The air is damp and thick with dust.

He is not in a basement.
Not in a warehouse.
Not in any familiar Salem holding spot.

He is inside the DiMera crypt—the family tomb.

And he’s not alone.

Kristen’s voice emerges from the shadows—angry, confused, terrified. Tony’s voice follows, equally trapped, equally stunned.

Three DiMeras.
One stone chamber.
No idea who put them there.

Slowly, the dread settles.

This was planned.
This was targeted.
This was personal.

Someone is removing DiMeras like chess pieces:

• Kristen – the wildcard

• Tony – the diplomat

• Chad – the heir tied to the family’s emotional core

This is not ransom.
Not random revenge.
This is strategy.

A coordinated strike on the DiMera dynasty—a prelude to war.

Every distant footstep outside the crypt deepens the mystery.
Is EJ next?
Is this connected to the shooting?
Is the enemy inside the mansion—or an outside force manipulating the whole board?

This is no ordinary kidnapping.
This is the opening chapter of a DiMera reckoning.

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**THE TEEN FRIENDSGIVING

A Moment of Peace—Interrupted by Tragedy**

Meanwhile, Salem’s teens create a rare oasis of normalcy.

Holly sets mismatched plates.
Ari brings a dish she claims isn’t burned.
Aaron keeps everyone laughing.
Tate relaxes for the first time in days.

It’s warm.
It’s youthful.
It’s ordinary.

Until Tate’s phone rings.

His expression shifts instantly—fear draining the color from his face.
Rachel has collapsed.
She’s in the hospital.
The truth about the shooting triggered a complete psychological breakdown.

Tate rushes to her bedside, where he sees:

Brady shattered.
Rachel pale and trembling.
Machines keeping her calm.

This moment carves something deep into Tate—a truth about how dangerously intertwined their families are, and how kids their age become collateral in adult wars.

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**THANKSGIVING AT THE BRADY PUB

Warmth, Nostalgia… and a Shift Between Exes**

At the Brady Pub, the holiday feels almost normal.

Roman carves a turkey.
Kate smiles with soft affection.
Steve and Kayla share quiet, tender moments.
Chanel joins Alex and Stephanie for an easy drink before dinner.

But beneath the comfort, something simmers.

Alex and Stephanie keep exchanging glances—a shift not rooted in longing or regret, but recognition. Something unresolved is waking back up. The moment feels like the calm before emotional chaos. The “peace” of this Thanksgiving is fragile, temporary, and destined to break.

This dinner serves as more than nostalgia.
It is the first domino in storylines about to collide.

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**BELLE AND MARLENA

A Soft, Human Thanksgiving Moment**

Belle arrives at Marlena’s hospital room carrying homemade food, small decorations, and fierce determination to bring Thanksgiving to her mother.

The moment is gentle, heartfelt, deeply emotional.

Belle sets up a tiny pumpkin, a handmade centerpiece, and a lovingly folded napkin shaped like a turkey. Marlena’s tired but warm smile says everything.

This scene is more than a holiday visit—it signals a shift. Whenever Belle becomes central, the Evans-Black family storyline deepens.

This week is her re-entry point.
And her tenderness hints at emotional arcs yet to unfold this winter.

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**THE HERNANDEZ HOUSE

A Dinner Filled With Betrayal Wearing a Smile**

What looks like the quietest storyline of the week may become the most explosive.

Gabi Hernandez is making a choice this Thanksgiving—a bold, calculated, dangerous choice. She invites Philip Kiriakis to dinner.

Philip arrives with flowers, touched and hopeful. Gabi plays the part perfectly—warm smiles, soft laughter, lingering glances that make him believe he’s safe to hope again.

During dinner, Philip delivers a heartfelt Thanksgiving speech about trust and second chances. His voice shakes with sincerity.

But beneath the tablecloth, a secret rots.

Gabi is working with Tony DiMera behind Philip’s back—to sabotage the Titan/DiMera merger he’s desperately trying to protect.

Every glance she gives him.
Every smile.
Every soft moment.

It’s all a lie.

Philip is falling deeper, believing in something real.

But fans know the truth:

Gabi’s lie is a time bomb.
And once it detonates, it will destroy Philip emotionally—and reopen wounds he barely survived the first time.

Gabi is playing with fire—and this time, the person who burns may not deserve it.

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**CONCLUSION

Thanksgiving in Salem Becomes a Battleground**

The week of November 24th doesn’t just deliver drama—
it redefines the entire canvas.

In one holiday week:

• A child confesses to a shooting that rewrites a months-long mystery.

• Chad awakens in the DiMera crypt, kicking off a coordinated attack on the dynasty.

• Multiple DiMeras vanish into a silent, strategic trap.

• The Brady and Black families fracture under guilt and fear.

• The teens face trauma far beyond their years.

• A Hernandez dinner becomes a ticking emotional bomb.

Thanksgiving should be a pause.
A breath.
A moment of healing.

But in Salem?

Thanksgiving becomes war.

Every table is set with warmth,
but every character brings secrets.

Every smile masks fear.
Every hug hides a lie.
Every moment of peace is the silence before thunder.

This week doesn’t close storylines.
It opens wounds.
It rearranges loyalties.
It ushers in a December darker than Salem has seen in years.

Because the fallout is coming—
fast, violent, and unavoidable.

And for the people of Salem,
the storm has only just begun.