One of the oddest experiences so far this year with Animal Crossing: New Horizons is that I have to find time on each real-life holiday to spend time playing this game. This week, I had to steal time away from Thanksgiving to pop into my island and help Franklin do his cooking events.
I don’t mind it and it isn’t a problem, but it definitely wasn’t what I was expecting to do when I started this series at the very beginning of 2025.
I also am wondering when the ground will be covered with snow again…It has to be soon, right? Then it will only be a few short months until spring comes again…
If you missed last week’s Tom Nook’s Snapshots, you can catch up here.
November 26
While I was trying to figure out my outfit for this new week in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Gayle stopped over to play! I won’t lie: I ended up kicking her out pretty quickly. I was trying to get dressed! I wish I could occasionally deny people access to my home, but then again, I do barge into people’s homes at random on my own…
After shopping at Nook’s Cranny and then planting a money tree in front of the town hall plaza, I finally decided that it was time to change the town’s ordinance. There have been weeds popping up regardless of what I try to do (the non-flowery kind), and so I decided that I should make more money living on my island. I therefore paid 20,000 Bells and turned on the Bell Boom ordinance! While things will cost more, they will also sell for more. I need to get more money when I sell my crops, and so this is perfect.
Next, I ran into Goose and then into Snooty, and I chatted them both up. I think it is important to make my islanders feel loved and welcome whenever I can, and Snooty has a lot of opinions about sushi. Finally, I stopped by Brewster’s Cafe. However, he was unable to sell me any coffee since I had zero Bells left.
November 27
Today is Turkey Day!
But first: I sold off 30 gold nuggets for 360,000 Bells. I suddenly have cash again to spend in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. I ran into a bunch of villagers at the plaza today, and all of them were wearing nice hats and gathered around a table with a bunch of covered dishes on it.
I met the world-class chef, Franklin, who looks like a turkey, preparing the Turkey Day meal after being hired on by Nook Inc. He explained that Turkey Day is all about celebrating the harvest with food made from those fresh ingredients.
First, I had to find manila clam to make clam chowder, and that wasn’t an issue. In return, I got a Turkey Day rug! Next, Franklin wanted to make a pumpkin pie. He asked for orange and yellow pumpkins. I’ll be honest, I didn’t know yellow pumpkins were a thing, and so I had to reach out to the wider Animal Crossing: New Horizons community for help. Luckily, Moana from Motunui came through and dropped off three types of pumpkins for me to use! I am so thankful, because it meant I could complete my recipe.
After Franklin explained how reliable assistants and high-quality ingredients make his work that much smoother, the pumpkin pie turned out to be delicious, and he gave me a Turkey Day wall. Franklin then asked for a skinny mushroom and a carrot. Thankfully, I had not harvested my carrots lately, and so I was able to hand both over to him after a few moments so that Franklin could make a gratin! In return, he gave me a Turkey Day flooring.
Finally, Franklin asked me to get him ingredients to make a meunière. Specifically, he wants me to get him sea bass and olive flounder. I ended up catching a sea horse (which my museum needed!), an olive flounder, and finally a sea bass! I surrendered both of the needed fish to him, and he made the dish.
With that, everyone celebrated, Franklin thanked me for helping him out, and he gave me a cornucopia along with all the DIY recipes for everything we made together today. Afterwards, I donated the sea horse to my museum, and Blathers told me all about how they are not good swimmers.
November 28
Snow has come back to Animal Crossing: New Horizons. When I logged onto my island today, Isabelle informed me that the first snow of the year has fallen and I am not quite sure how I feel about that.
But! When I stopped by Nook’s Cranny, I was told there is a Nook Friday sale! Everything is 30-percent off, but I unfortunately didn’t see anything I wanted to buy. After depositing yet more Bells into my savings account, I checked out the snow drizzling across the landscape. It is crazy how my year started in snow, and will probably end in snow for this Animal Crossing: New Horizons series.
Afterwards, I stopped by Snooty’s to chat her up. She talked about how pent-up anxiety floats away when warmth seeps into your bones, and I honestly feel that. BUT! After I left, I headed to Brewster’s Cafe, and I ran into her again. I don’t know why she didn’t tell me that she was looking to get some coffee, but I am not upset about hanging out with her a second time!
November 29
Even though Turkey Day is over, Nook Friday rolls on! Today, I bought a Turkey Day table setting, Cozy Turkey Day DIY, and Basic Cooking Recipes all from Nook’s Cranny at a discount. I was pretty happy about all of that, but I wish some of the more expensive things they had for sale was something that I would actually want.
Also, as it is Saturday…K. K. Slider came to town. I left the music up to him to decide for this week, and he played K.K. Jongara for me, Goose, Gonzo, and Cephalobot. This was incredibly faster paced than I expected, and it sounded incredible with a heavy string focus. I got a bootleg from him after the concert, and it turned out that I already have it in my home collection.
November 30
Isabelle announced this morning she is starting to plan the year-end celebration for everyone to ring in the new year! It seems like yesterday that it, and this column, had started. After shaking down a money tree, collecting the bells, and chopping said tree down, I chatted up Goose who talked about his muscles again very, very loudly.
I planted another money tree, dug up another rare mushroom and a fossil, and started to deal with my mail again as it was starting to overflow my mailbox. I really, really wish we could have more than 300 letters at one time. I stopped by Blather’s to donate a Perfect Painting, and then I got my fossil identified. He stated it was a mammoth’s torso, and so I promptly sold that off to Nook’s Cranny since my museum did not need it.
December 1
Isabelle started today’s announcements by telling me that Toy Day decorations will be going up outside Resident Services today, and sure enough, there was a toy dog for sale inside Nook’s Cranny as well! Timmy told me this will be done daily through December 25 so that everyone can buy Toy Day gifts. Of course, once I bought that, 10PM hit and I was promptly evicted from the store.
I stopped by the tent next to see who my newest camper is, and I met Erik. He talked about s’mores and how amazing chocolate, graham crackers, and a toasty marshmallow all are. He talked about how he would make s’mores at home, but…he doesn’t have a fire. What kind of cold, inhospitable place does he live that doesn’t have a fire?
Finally, I dug up a gyroid out of my outdoors gym that I need to finish working on at some point.
December 2
Today, I traded island visits with Kelsey from Haven!
What was weird when I visited her island was that I saw Tutu there, and she pretended to not know who I was. It was so surreal not being called ‘glitter’ by her as a nickname. Tutu then asked me to pick between sunny days and rainy days, and I picked sunny days. I then met Ione who also seemed nice. After checking out Kelsey’s Nook’s Cranny and her decorating, she visited my island and saw all the things I had on display there too!
It was a lot of fun, and I am really enjoying island hopping to see what other creative people are making in their games.
Do you ever see any of your islanders on another island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?
What kind of toys are you hoping to see in Nook’s Cranny this holiday season?
Let us know in the comments below!
