Three familiar faces briefly return to Pine Valley as winter breezes in.

Soap Opera Network has it on good word that both Agnes Nixon and Francesca James will step into character to pay tribute to the irreplaceable Myrtle Fargate (the character played by Eileen Herlie, who passed away on October 8) on the December 19 episode of "AMC." Nixon reprises the role of Aggie, which she played on the drama's 10,000th episode on November 12, while James returns as Myrtle's surrogate daughter, Kelly Tyler. Nixon is, of course, the creator of "AMC;" James has been a Daytime Emmy winning actor (1972-1980 as Kitty Davis, and then identical twin sister Kelly), an executive producer (1996-1998) and still is an occasional director (2003-ongoing) at "AMC." James last appeared on the soap in 2005 for Phoebe Tyler Wallingford's (the late great Ruth Warrick) funeral.

Nixon and James aren't the only ones returning. Sources close to Colin Egglesfield have been letting it leak that the actor's return to the soap as Josh Madden was imminent. Those sources were indeed correct. The banished (and unaborted) son of Erica Kane (Susan Lucci) and Jeff Martin returns to the scene in January for at least several episodes. Egglesfield was last seen in September after being dropped to recurring status.

In casting news of the non-return sort, the role of Simon has been cast on "AMC." On the week of December 29, Reese William's (Tamara Braun) former fiance will come face-to-face with Reese's current fiance, Bianca Montgomery (Eden Riegel). The name of the actor and his status with the show has not been revealed yet. SON will keep you updated on any further developments.

"All My Children" air Weekdays on ABC. Weeknights on SOAPnet. Check local listings.

I'm actually happy to see Josh back, he should have been there for the hurricane since his sister is in a coma and Babe died.

I'm actually happy to see Josh back, he should have been there for the hurricane since his sister is in a coma and Babe died.

I don't understand why they let him go. He was the most watchable and tolerable of all her children and for a show that features "Flabby" Young and "Tubby" Kaye, the notion of firing Colin Egglesfield was a joke and half.

Glad Kelly's coming back for Myrt's funeral. I hope Linc is with her. I wish Skye and Rae would come back too. It's stupid that Myrtle's daughter and granddaughter (and for that matter great-granddaughter Lila Rae) won't be at Myrtle's funeral. If Robin Christopher doesn't want to come back, then get Carrie Genzel, whom imho was almost as good as Robin C.

I am so happy Francesca will be back. She and Eileen had a relationship on and off screen. I have high hopes for this episode. My tissues are ready.

BTW, if anyone has the GH Family Scrapbook by Gary Warner, would they mind scanning the picture of Francesca James in the "Crew" section. I had the book and had been meaning to scan for a long time but missed out. I would love the picture to use as the headshot for Kelly

Great news about Francesca James. It's really a disappointment, however, that Robin C. (Skye) won't return.

It'll be nice to see them both again.

Good, I'd rather they write for Josh then send him off like the whole thing never happened. That was almost as bad as making him the unabortion in the first place.

There's a small part of me that still hopes that one day they'll fix this mess. He can stay Erica's son, even Jeff's, he just needs to not be the unabortion.

I'm so happy FJ is returning as Kelly! She really, really, truly loves the show and I wouldn't mind seeing her on a regular basis as Kelly along with Linc. I wonder if there'd be an attraction between Kelly and Adam or someone like that. That'd interesting to see!

And good lord, my Josh is back! It's about damn time. They did a million injustices to that character, and randomly writing him out was one of them (making him the unabortion, and therefore, the Hated One, was the worse).

Great news about Francesca James. It's really a disappointment, however, that Robin C. (Skye) won't return.

At least the show made an offer to Robin, the ball was in her court. I agree that this would have been the perfect way to bring Skye back to PV where she belongs.

At least the show made an offer to Robin, the ball was in her court. I agree that this would have been the perfect way to bring Skye back to PV where she belongs.

I know the show made her an offer.

I don't want to pass judgment without knowing the facts, but it seems rather cold of her.