I wanted to give a shout out to my sister and brother-in-law because they gave me the best Christmas gift I’ve ever received. A little history as to how this gift became the best ever is in order.

Years ago as a kid, I wanted a real Dallas Cowboys helmet. I’ve always thought that having one in a display case or under a light on a pedestal would be a neat thing to have, since I’m such a die hard fan. I never really thought about how much they cost or that it would have been hard to afford or get for my parents. One Christmas in about 1991, my family was at my grandparent’s house and my mom handed me a gift that was in a plastic bag. I could barely see through the bag to notice that it looked like a helmet. My heart skipped a beat or two. I said, “Oh no” out loud. I couldn’t believe it, I was going to get a helmet! When I opened the bag, I tried to hide my disappointment when I saw that it was just an inflatable vinyl helmet to go on your head while at a game. I was actually embarrassed that I had thought it would be the real thing.

Flash forward to the Christmas season of 2009. Laura and I, along with my sister and her husband went on a tour of the new Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington. Click on the photo of the helmet at the top of this blog to see more photos from that tour. We were in the ProShop and my sister and I mused about what I might do if I had one . . .

The next day, we celebrated Christmas with my family early because I get to work on Christmas this year. The gift from my sis and her hubby was anticipated by everyone but me. She said it would be the greatest gift ever and I just tried to ignore the hype, in case it wasn’t something I was interested in. Well, lo and behold, when I opened the “greatest gift ever” the name of the gift rang true. I read the words: Official NFL Helmet. A 20 year old dream has finally come true and I couldn’t be more excited or more grateful.

Thanks sis and Merry Christmas!

TobyLaura.com