Woman opens Christmas present given to ex after she dumped him in 1971

Canada

ST. ALBERT, Alta. -- A man in Edmonton who made international headlines for holding onto a wrapped Christmas gift from a high-school girlfriend who dumped him nearly 50 years ago finally learned what it was on Thursday when she travelled to the city and opened it for him.

Adrian Pearce, now a married father of two, received the small present wrapped in shiny, purple paper shortly before Christmas 1971 from Vicki Allen, who was his very first sweetheart at George S. Henry Secondary School in Toronto.

But when she handed it to him, she broke up with him. Dejected, Pearce returned to his family s home, threw it under the Christmas tree and vowed never to open it.

The story last December about the unopened gift appeared on TV, newspapers and websites around the world. And as Allen stood on a stage in a packed cafe northwest of the city and peeled away the paper with Pearce standing beside her and his wife, Janet, in the audience, she herself didn t know what she d see because it was so long ago and she d forgotten.

"Oh no!" Allen exclaimed when she finally saw. "I can t give that to him!"

It was a small book called "Love Is: New Ways To Spot That Certain Feeling" with a cartoons and sayings about love.

"The irony is extreme," Allen cried.

The event was a fundraiser for the Christmas Bureau of Edmonton, a local charity that provides Christmas meals to families in need.

"Love is all of us, all of you, here tonight for the Christmas Bureau of Edmonton," Pearce responded.