Adrian Pearce fell in love for the first time when he was 17 years old. The year was 1971, and he'd become inseparable from his high school sweetheart, Vicki Allen.
Adrian was so excited to experience the holiday season while being in a romantic relationship. He expected a Christmas full of bonding, intimacy, and new memories made.
But for Vicki, their deep and intense new relationship wasn't as black and white. She handed Adrian his Christmas gift — and then broke his heart. She said they needed to break up, but she didn't really offer Adrian a clear explanation as to why, leaving him even more confused and heartbroken.
Adrian looked down at Vicki's gift — a small rectangular package tightly wrapped in shiny, bluish paper. Something kept him from tearing open the paper. He just couldn't bear to see what she'd given him as a parting gift.
So Adrian tossed Vicki's mysterious present under the Christmas tree. Every year after that, he stubbornly put the gift under the tree, unopened — for the next 47 years.
The jilted lover eventually met a woman named Janet and became a happily married father of two. Still, the present remained underneath the Christmas tree.
As the years passed, Janet and his kids became desperate to know what hid under the wrapping paper. And after nearly five decades, his family finally convinced him to open the gift, once and for all.
But first, Adrian wanted to do just one thing; he tracked Vicki down on Facebook, and the pair agreed to reunite.
Adrian and Vicki's story went viral, and a Canadian news station invited the long-lost couple to open the gift on live television …
