Email: LaurenNicoleGifts@gmail.com

I have always been passionate about designing and making meaningful gifts and keepsakes and was very fortunate to able to start my own business. Lauren Nicole Gifts (name after my niece) was started in 2004 and was a great way for me to have my own business, but still move around as an Army wife. My husband recently retired from the Army and we are now permanently located in Ouray, Colorado

Monday, September 19, 2011

Most Meaningful Gift

In thinking about all the gifts I have received over the years, I have to say that the most meaningful gift I ever received is my husband. He is in the Army and is gone a lot. My husband was deployed to Iraq several years ago. Between training and the actual deployment he was gone for 1-1/2 years. He missed two Christmas holidays, but on the second Christmas I got a phone call letting me know he was coming home on New Year’s Eve.



I had already spent all of that December filling up my front yard with lights, but never turning them on hoping he would be home soon. I am sure the neighbors thought I was crazy because everyday I put up more lights, but my house was the only house on the street that didn’t have any lights on. On New Year’s Eve I turned all of them on….the only colors I used were red, white & blue.



At 2:00am my husband’s flight arrived and at 4:00am his unit marched into the field house on post which was decorated for Christmas. As they marched in the song “I am Proud To Be An American” by Lee Greenwood was playing in the background. I will always cry when I hear that song! I will never ever be able to completely describe the feeling of seeing him march in that night. We were very fortunate that he came home safe and that was the best gift I have ever received. It was the most memorable moment of my life, even more memorable than my wedding day.



Since that day we stopped exchanging gifts and spend the money on doing things together.



Now, I would love to hear about YOUR most meaningful gift! Be sure to blog about your experience and then link up right here with us! Once the Linky has closed, I will be choosing a winner at random from the linked up posts to win $75 to shop my store!!! The Linky will remain open for a full week, so get those posts ready and come back for some blogging fun!




4 comments:

Rach (DonutsMama) said...

Oh what a wonderful gift that must have been to see your husband after all that time. Thank you both for your service.

Anonymous said...

What a BEAUTIFUL story!!! I love it! Working on my post to link up!

Snowmanlover said...

Oh what a beautiful post. It made me cry. I cry EVERY time I hear that song. Both of my kids had to sing it in 3rd grade plays and it just made me cry so much to hear children sing that song. I love it
I would love to participate but since my blog is a craft blog, I don't write about personal things, so I won't be able to blog about it, but my greatest gift is adopting my children !!!

Hopes@Staying Afloat! said...

This is such a wonderful story! I LOVE IT!! I love how you only decorated in Red, White, and Blue lights.

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