HGTV UK / YouTube Ben & Erin Napier
HGTV hosts (and Christmas movie stars) Ben and Erin Napier recently celebrated their 14-year wedding anniversary, and the couple couldn’t be stronger.
In a new Instagram video for House Beautiful, the Napiers relationship is put to the test when they play the game “My Better Half”. Similar to the game show “The Newlywed Game”, the two each privately answer a question by writing it down on a whiteboard and reveal their answers at the same time, hoping they both match.
See the video below to hear all about the Napiers’ favorite holiday traditions.
Ben & Erin Napier Share Their Family Christmas Traditions
Ben and Erin Napier get a match on their first “My Better Half” question, which is “[What is] Ben’s favorite Christmas tradition in Laurel [Mississippi]?” The two both know to write down “Pancake Day” and remark that they were just discussing it prior to playing the game.
According to an old Instagram post of Erin’s, Pancake Day is Laurel, Mississippi’s “sweetest annual tradition” that has been taking place on the first Saturday of December for decades. “Everyone you’ve ever known your entire life comes to the old YWCO and gets in line together to have all you can eat pancakes and sausage before the Christmas parade starts. Every year, the photos are the same, we all just look a little older and wiser. This is how Christmas begins in our hometown,” Erin continued on in the post’s caption.
Ben remarks that what really makes it his favorite is that the whole first week of December is filled with events in Laurel. Beyond Pancake Day, Ben says there is a Christmas parade, a tree lighting downtown, and a gala at the local art museum.
The next question asks about the Napiers’ favorite family Christmas tradition, and the two fail to get a match. Ben says that he likes buying their Christmas tree, but that he forgot about another one of their traditions that Erin chose, the advent calendar.
“My mom made an advent calendar. It’s like a fabric Christmas tree sewn onto this banner that has 25 pockets,” Erin says of the calendar.
Besides their traditions, the couple gets matches on what their favorite part of working together is (they both say it’s spending time together and “having a partner in this crazy ride”, according to Erin), and what their favorite “Home Town” renovation was from the current season (their own home).
Ben Napier Gets His Wife Erin the Same Anniversary Gift Every Year
Ben and Erin Napier not only participate in local traditions for Christmas, but the married couple has started some traditions around their wedding anniversary, specifically with the gifts.
According to Southern Living, Ben gets Erin the same gift every year for each of their anniversaries, he makes her a book and writes down the best moments from each month of their marriage. “They document the best moments of each month of our marriage, and he makes them from that year’s traditional gift, always with the same simple titling. Year 1: paper. 2: cotton. 3: leather. 4: flowers. 5: wood. 6: iron. 7: copper & wool. 8: linen and bronze. 9: willow,” Erin wrote on Instagram, telling fans about the tradition.
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