It's a Napier tradition that comes around every year, Dec. 8-13, just as the holidays are approaching. It's a celebration of the storybook romance that famously exists between HGTV's Home Town heroes, Erin and Ben Napier. Erin shares the story with the world — in particular, the couple's ardent fans and followers of her online journal and Instagram account. It's inspired, endearing and positively uplifting. Are you ready to have your heartstrings tugged? Read on.

Let's step back in time — to December 2004. Erin and Ben are students at Jones County Junior College in Ellisville, Mississippi, about 10 miles from Laurel, their hometown. Erin, then Erin Rasberry, was a design editor for the school's yearbook tasked with working on a story about an affable and popular figure on campus: Ben Napier. The two had seen each other around, but hadn't formally met. (Photo from Erin's Instagram, Dec. 13, 2023)

As Erin recounts in a post on her Instagram account, "For two years [I] had noticed him, always the center of attention, everyone’s best friend, my biggest crush. Dec. 8, we took the photos for the yearbook. Dec. 9, we went on our first date, and he met my mama. Dec. 10, we looked at the Christmas lights in Mason Park. Dec. 13, we decided we would get married someday."

Flash forward a couple of decades. Now, every year Erin and Ben set aside a week in which they go to considerable and creative lengths to re-live the magical and joy-filled time in which they first discovered they were head-over-heels in love with one another. This goes deeper and well-beyond a day on the calendar, anniversary gifts or a commemorative dinner date. It's about re-affirmation, renewal and continually restoring the sense of awe that's part of the experience of falling in love. Fortunately for us, the Napiers are all about sharing their love story.