Animal Crossing: New Horizons players who use their Switch system clock to jump forward in time won’t be able to get a sneak peek at what’s in store for Turkey Day (11/26) or Toy Day (12/24) this year. Unlike the game’s summer fireworks and Halloween celebrations, Thanksgiving and Christmas are date locked.
Instead of being able to cook a feast with Franklin the turkey or deliver presents with Jingle the black-nosed reindeer, Animal Crossing fans leaping into the future have discovered that the two holidays are just another couple of days of seasonal island life. It’s the same lock that was in place for the game’s Easter celebration earlier in the year. After fans were able to experience Halloween via time travel a full month before October 31, there was speculation that Nintendo may have relaxed its anti-time travel stance. No such luck.
I am a real-time Animal Crossing: New Horizons player and have never had the urge to mess with my clock. I discovered the holiday season restrictions via my spouse, who is a filthy time traveler. This morning they said, “I bet you’re happy we can’t time travel to Thanksgiving and Christmas,” assuming my disdain for temporal displacement would cause the news to give me pleasure. They were right. Also, nanny-nanny boo-boo. And happy holidays.