1990: Tad and Dixie's (Cady McClain) Christmas wedding was interrupted by tragedy: Billy Clyde Tuggle, who was obsessed with the bride, lured Tad to a railroad bridge and rigged a bomb to explode. The groom was presumed dead.

1989: Phoebe was overjoyed to receive a Christmastime visit from her beloved grandson, Dr. Chuck Tyler.

1988: Young lovebirds Nico ( Maurice Benard) and Julie (Lauren Holly) ran off and got married at Christmastime, though some months later they learned the union wasn't legal — the small-town mayor who had pronounced them husband and wife wasn't actually bestowed with the authority to do so.

1987: In South America, Nina reunited with her presumed-dead true love, Cliff — but their joy was cut short when he discovered that after his "death," she'd married another man (Matt).

1986: Spending the holiday alone made it finally sink in for Tad that he'd lost Hillary for good — so he was determined to become a better man and left Pine Valley for a new life in California. Cliff (Peter Bergman) and Nina (Taylor Miller) fared far better, staging their third wedding at Tavern on the Green in New York City.

1985: Caught up in the Christmas spirit, Tom asked ex-wife Brooke for a reconciliation. (She turned him down.)

1984: Cortlandt Manor was the site of the Christmastime wedding between Myra (Palmer's housekeeper and on-again, off-again mother-in-law) and Jasper (Palmer's butler).

1983: Cliff invited estranged wife Nina to spend the holiday with him and his son, Bobby; out lesbian Lynn, meanwhile, resisted the amorous pursuits of Devon. "You're not gay, Devon," Lynn gently pointed out.

1982: True love reigned supreme when Greg (Laurence Lau) slipped an engagement ring on Jenny's (Kim Delaney) finger on Christmas Eve.

1979: Ruth (Mary Fickett) and Joe got a very special Christmas gift: son Joseph Martin, Jr., later known as Joey and later still known as Jake, was born on this day.

1977: Ruth and Joe decided to track down the birth parents of their young ward, Tad, so they could get permission to adopt him. Enter one of Pine Valley's most gruesome grinches: Ray Gardner demanded $10,000 in exchange for his son.

1976: AMC's first supercouple, Phil (Nicholas Benedict) and Tara (Karen Lynn Gorney), became Mr. and Mrs. at Christmastime.