Like many Pandora fans, I have a marriage/relationship bracelet. We had red roses at our wedding, so my “Always and Forever” bracelet centres around red/coral, hearts and roses. I have the new Black Friday present charm on this bracelet to remind me of the first gift my husband gave me when we started dating – a bottle of Neutrogena shampoo! I was so shocked! I said, “You bought me SHAMPOO?!!”... In his defence he said it was expensive, and maybe I wouldn’t buy it for myself. He said I had gone on and on about it, saying how well it could clean your hair if you use a lot of products in your hair, how nice my hair felt when it was clean, etc., etc.

We have learned a LOT about each other in the 20+ years we have been together (we met 30 years ago). He NOW knows that I am a very extroverted person and I think out loud – and I “go on and on” about lots of things! But my husband is a very introverted person, and for him to talk about something with such enthusiasm it would have to be very important.

When we started living together, we would react to each other like, “why would you DO things like that?” or, “what were you thinking?” But shortly after this gift-giving fiasco, we took a workshop about personality types using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, and we read “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” – both of which were VERY enlightening. They allowed us to learn to love and understand – and accept – each other… the way we are.

Last Christmas my husband gave me a present with a little tag saying, “We need a new tradition for Christmas.” When I un-wrapped it – you guessed it – it was a bottle of Neutrogena shampoo.

This little present charm makes me smile every time I look at it, and will remind me, as Billy Joel sang it, “I love you just the way you are.”