Tattoo for Christmas

My brother-in-law Jacob harbored a secret for eighteen years.  That's eighteen of years of avoiding a certain conversation subject, of keeping his secret carefully covered up. 

On Thanksgiving, his fiancée gleefully exposed his secret to to all of the family. 

On Christmas, she gave us a gift to memorialize her betrayal forever.

After Dan almost wet himself from laughing, he pronounced it,
"Best. Christmas. Gift. Ever."

Here's how the exposé went down.

Dan's family was sitting around the Thanksgiving table, and somehow the subject of tattoos popped up.  While we knew that Jacob had a Chinese symbol on his upper back, suddenly Julia Meade smirked and trilled, "That's not the only one he has!"

Immediate interest and questions!  "What other one do you have, Jacob??"  "Where is it??"  "When did you get it?"

Jacob blushed and told us all to shut up, pleading with his eyes at Julia Meade, all I-will-never-live-this-down-and-I-love-you-so-please-please-don't-tell-my-brother-about-that-tattoo.

She just grinned and gave us the dirty deets.  He had been nineteen and just been dumped by a girl who looked so bitchin' with her denim jacket paired with jeans (cough* Canadian tuxedo*cough*).  He was understandably devastated from the end of this three month love affair, deciding right then and there that he would get inked, have a lifelong reminder of his heartache.  More than that, this tattoo would be a reminder to protect himself, keep his heart protected from being smashed again.

In short, Julia Meade chortled, "He got a heart with a string of barbed wire through the middle!!  It's so eighties!  Even though it wasn't the 80's!"

Eruption of laughter and pleads to see the tattoo.  Jacob was still blushing and shaking his head and smiling in disbelief at his little spitfire of a fiancée. 

No one was allowed to see it. 

We still don't know where it was located.

Then, Christmas morning rolled around.  Julia Meade handed each of us a tiny package, with instructions to open it at the same time.  Jacob was looking very wary when he realized he did not have one.

We counted off:

1...

2...

3!

 

It might not look like much, but there it is!  Jacob's protected heart tattoo exposed for all!

Yes, she secretly snapped a photo of it and turned the copies into tiny refrigerator magnets for all of us!

Jacob couldn't help but laugh too as we howled for five solid minutes.

The wedding is still on.  Jacob just can't get enough of Julia Meade.  Case in point, Mr. Guy's Guy even agreed to go on a Christmas card with her this year:

She let him pick the saying, and here's what he chose:

 

"Holiday hugs"?  "Winter Kisses"? 

 

Guess there's no barbed wire around that heart anymore.