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Think back to your wedding presents. Which are the ones you remember best? Still glowing from her 30th anniversary, Michelle Duggar remembers one special wedding gift that made a lasting impression on her family. It was a surprise from their neighbors, an elderly couple. "They were like our adopted grandparents," Duggar writes in a recent blog post. "And they lived three doors down from our first honeymoon cottage." This present is something the Duggars still use to this day.
Their neighbors hand-crocheted a custom cover for a fold-out wooden table the newlyweds had. Somehow, they'd measured the table without the Duggars even knowing! "The best part was that they made it big enough to fit the table when it was fully expanded with all the leaves in place," Duggar says. She cried when the couple presented it, imagining her future family sitting all around the table someday.
Over the years the Duggars used the table cover for special family and friends gatherings, like baby and wedding showers. "That tablecloth has been a special keepsake all these years," Duggar says, "and I have used it over and over." Now, of course, her whole family fits around that large table.
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There's a few things that make this such a wonderful, cherished wedding gift. It's homemade, for starters. Anything you make by hand is going to be memorable. It was created with the future in mind -- something the couple knew the Duggars would use as their family grew. And yet it always reminds Michelle and Jim Bob of their newlywed years, too. It's practical, but for special occasions, so it's probably still in good shape. And it reminds them of that sweet elderly couple.
These are the elements of a meaningful wedding gift. Every couple should be fortunate enough to receive at least one present like this. It's not expensive -- just incredibly thoughtful, personal, and sweet. Leave it to an elderly couple to come up with a gift that keeps the full lifetime of a family in mind, not just the first few years.
What was one of your favorite, most treasured wedding gifts?
Image via Duggar Fam/Instagram
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