You Have to Hear This HGTV Star’s Sweet Christmas Love Story

Published: December 12, 2024

You Have to Hear This HGTV Star’s Sweet Christmas Love Story

By Movieguide® Contributor

HGTV star Erin Napier is opening up about her favorite time of the year and why it’s so special to her.

“Some people consider my husband, Ben, and me a Christmas couple. I like that,” Napier told Guideposts. “Not just because it’s my favorite holiday and Ben is into Christmas year-round. But because our love story is so connected to Christmas — it’s a part of who we are as a couple. The presents, the ornaments, the food, the songs, the scents, the lights and all that our family does to celebrate Jesus’ birth. The magic and joy of the season are a feast for all the senses God has given us.”

“Back when I was a sophomore at Jones County Junior College, just down the road from Laurel, I was the design director for the yearbook, and we were doing a feature story on this guy Ben, a big presence on campus,” she continued. “I had a secret crush on him. At six foot six, always surrounded by friends, he was impossible to miss.”

“We finally met in early December when he came to the yearbook office to do the interview,” Napier explained. “Three days later, we got in my blue VW Bug and drove over to Mason Park to look at the Christmas lights. By day six, we knew we were going to get married. I know it sounds crazy, but that’s why we call that week in December ‘love week.’

“All too soon, Ben had to leave to be with his family for Christmas. My mom had just tried out the recipe for these chocolate, oatmeal and peanut butter cookies,” she added. “You don’t bake them—you boil them. Super easy. Ben took one bite and loved them. So she put a huge batch in a gallon-sized Ziploc baggie, and he ate them on his five-hour drive home. Couldn’t afford to stop for a burger. Didn’t need to.”

Ever since then, Napier’s mom bakes a batch of those cookies every year.

“Daddy will mutter. ‘I can’t stand them.’ ‘They’re not for you,’ Mama says. ‘They’re for Ben.'”

Just a few days after they met, the two knew they would get married.

Napier reflects on “Love Week” every year, with a recent Instagram post revealing Ben “made anyone he spoke to feel like they were special, he sat with the person eating alone. And because of that, I loved him before I even knew him.”

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A post shared by Erin Napier (@erinapier)

Along with recalling their love story, the Napiers decorate early.

“The girls wanted to start early and i couldn’t stop them,” she wrote in the caption of an Instagram post on Nov. 9. The photo showed a festive garland decked out with red ribbons running up their stair railing.

“This should come as no surprise, as Erin’s husband, Ben Napier, and their daughters, Helen (6) and Mae (3), are huge fans of the holidays. Ben has previously dressed up as Santa Claus in the family’s hometown of Laurel, Mississippi, and Mae requested a Christmas-themed party for her third birthday on June 1,” TV Insider reported.