Dawn Pruszkowski: [00:00:00] Grab a cup of hot chocolate, find a comfy couch, and get ready to indulge in Christmas. True life romances. Welcome to Unexpected love stories, the 2025 Christmas edition Love stories fill us with joy and inspire, hope for the future. And a true life romance can remind us that sometimes just one spark is all it takes to change everything.

Welcome to a very special Christmas edition of Unexpected Love Stories. I’m your host, Don Kowski.

Lauren Tauber: And I’m Lauren Taber, the podcast social media manager.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Yes, she is, and she’s fantastic. I hope that you’ve seen her work on TikTok, Instagram or Facebook. If not, Lauren, where can they find you?

Lauren Tauber: So on Instagram and Facebook, we are the Unexpected Love Stories podcast.

And then on TikTok, it’s just the unexpected love stories.

Dawn Pruszkowski: All [00:01:00] right. Make sure you go and see all the fun stuff she does there. Well, today we wanna celebrate love that happens at Christmas and this Christmas we were blessed to have four couples whose love stories either began or they take, took that next step to say yes to love on Christmas Eve.

Lauren Tauber: It’s so special. Dawn. I think Christmas love stories are the best.

Dawn Pruszkowski: I agree, right? I mean, I’ve been binging them since Thanksgiving.

Lauren Tauber: Yeah, and you know, Christmas is a season of love. There’s something so special about Christmas engagements and weddings and first dates that turn into forever Love. They just warm our hearts.

Dawn Pruszkowski: That’s true, and this season it just definitely sets the stage for miracles. So today we’re celebrating the couples from our show who either got engaged or met or said I do at Christmas with the twinkling lights and the evergreen branches all around them, [00:02:00]

Lauren Tauber: and we get to relive some of their most special moments.

Yes, we do.

Dawn Pruszkowski: All right, Lauren, let’s kick things off with one of my favorite love stories. This episode was our Valentine’s Day show. It was a she said, he said episode because the story was so amazing. Now, this one was definitely an unexpected love story. Maya and Ji, they grew up in Sierra Leone. Uh, they’d only spoken on the phone once before, and that was years before they ever met.

And he, at this time, lived in the United States, and she lived in England.

Lauren Tauber: And I remember that Maya wasn’t even thinking about marriage, but she was praying at an event and she kept coughing

Dawn Pruszkowski: and she was coughing. Husband, husband,

Lauren Tauber: imagine your friend just side eyeing you and being like, am I hearing what I think I’m hearing?

Mm-hmm.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Lauren, I love that she [00:03:00] immediately was convinced that God would send her a husband before Christmas day. So I think we’ve gotta play this clip.

Special Podcast Guest: And there I was the person who did not want to get married. Um, I kept, I was coughing and I kept saying husband and my friends around me just looked at me thinking, are you sure what you’re saying?

And I just kept saying, husband, you know, I was coughing and I was wondering like, why are you doing that? I just, I just felt a strong urge to just pray for a husband. And I just thought, okay, that’s strange. But if that’s what’s coming out of my mouth, I suppose that’s what’s what wants me to pray about.

So that I just, after that I just had, uh. I think it was a, it, it was a God moment because I was just convinced that my husband would come before Christmas day. I mean, oh wow. What? Ready? Um, you, you know, if anybody told me that they had something hidden, I just thought the husband will pop up. I mean, this was childlike [00:04:00] faith.

Mm-hmm. And I was happy, I would trusted God. I have, I don’t think that’s ever happened before, but I just trusted God that, that God said it. He, he asked me to ask for what I want. I told him what I want. He’s God. Mm-hmm. He’s a mirror fucking God. Therefore, I will receive that gift. So I receive the gift and I told some friends and I became the laughingstock at church.

Um, at church. Um,

Dawn Pruszkowski: okay. So this happened how long before Christmas Day?

Special Podcast Guest: This is a month to three weeks to, yeah, A month to Christmas day.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Okay, so and so you are just believing, you know, I saying leaving outta

Special Podcast Guest: nowhere. This is

Dawn Pruszkowski: your Christmas present.

Special Podcast Guest: This is my Christmas present. Wasn’t dating Okay. You know, no pros and there was nothing.

Mm-hmm. And um, I remember, um, so I love this Christmas Eve. [00:05:00] My friend of mine said, now he was married to my, my, uh, uh, my, a very good friend of mine and he said, oh, I have something for you. I’m like, long last the.

Why would I keep your husband in my, in the, in, in the trunk? Because he was opening up his trunk. I’m like, and I was thinking the same thing that why would anyone want to hide in a trunk? And he took out this really huge, um, teddy bear, which my parents had asked him to get, asked them to get for me because they know I love teddy bears.

And I thought, oh, okay. I’m like, okay, one step closer. It’s something I can hold, you know, one step closer. I went to my friend’s house that evening because she didn’t like cooking Christmas dinner. I love cooking. So anyway. Mm-hmm. So went over to them and they were consoling me, telling me how much God loved me.

But this might not be the particular time, you know, if, if the husband doesn’t come, it’s okay. They had all [00:06:00] this, you know, trying to encourage me and, and I’m like, the night has, you know, this is about 11:00 PM I’m like, the, the, the night is still young. We we’re okay. We have, you know, we have, um, a good hour or so before, but I believe what God said, they went to bed about 1130 after we’ve prepped and everything.

And, um, one calls at about 1145. Wow. Yeah. So he calls and I was calm. I picked up the phone, didn’t know it was him, obviously I don’t think he called with his, with his phone, so I wouldn’t have known it was him. I even if he did, even if he had, I wouldn’t have remembered the number from all those years, you know, back.

Mm-hmm. He called, he, he introduced himself. I was like, oh, okay. Hi. And um, and good

Dawn Pruszkowski: for

Special Podcast Guest: you for answering that phone. I know, but I was so expecting, I mean, I was so expecting that, you know, I was looking out of the window. I’m like, where’s this guy? You know, what’s going on? [00:07:00] And he called and I was calm. He said, can you have, um, can you do lunch?

I said, no, I can do dinner. And he said, okay, I’ll see you then. And I was like, I put the phone down. I’m like, thank you, Jesus. And I went to bed, woke up the next morning, still at my friend’s house, and they were consoling me again. And I’m like, oh, no, no. I know who he, I know

Dawn Pruszkowski: who he’s, you know, while you were asleep, what happened?

Special Podcast Guest: You know, like, what’s wrong with this girl? And I had to convince them that one, she actually called. I don’t know how I did it, but they kind of believed me, but I wasn’t sure. Well, I think I convinced them because they, they knew, you know, they knew me and, um, mm-hmm. And, um, I remember I didn’t have anything to wear.

I’m a jeans and top guy and they’re like, well, you have to, you know, dress up a bit and everything. I’m like, [00:08:00] well, you know, why, why do I have to? But anyway, so another friend of mine who went to the, to the mall and she helped me pick out something, um. And I met on the I. What? When? What it was, was it after Christmas?

I can’t remember if it was after Christmas. Anyway, it was during that Christmas time. Mm-hmm. I can’t remember.

Lauren Tauber: That really was a Christmas miracle.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Yep. I have to say that God has the best timing.

Lauren Tauber: But then Dawn, we heard Ji tell Why he called Maya at almost midnight on Christmas Eve.

Dawn Pruszkowski: I know, and it’s really a funny story.

Let’s hear that one too. Okay.

Special Podcast Guest: And my mother asked, she’s like, well, are you dating anyone? And I was like, no. And um, so we, we, we talked and she’s like, what about Maya? I am like, look, I called that woman, it must have been maybe two years prior, and I didn’t call back. I’m like, I don’t [00:09:00] know that she wants to talk to me anymore.

And my mother was insistent and she’s like, no, you need to call. No, you need to call. And on a dare on Adair. I said, okay, I’m gonna call and you’re gonna find out she doesn’t want to talk. So I’m sitting there in my mother’s bedroom and I call, and Maya picks up the phone and I’m like, Hey, you want do lunch?

Because I was not even gonna ask for dinner, you know? You know. And then Maya said. No, I can’t do launch because I have some type of an engagement, but I can do dinner and you know, that’s how we connect it again.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Okay. Now is this the Christmas call?

Special Podcast Guest: Yes, that is the Christmas call, yes.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Okay. And now, now my next question is, it was

what?

1145?

Special Podcast Guest: Yeah. Again, as I said, um,

Dawn Pruszkowski: well, I, I, this one, I, i, this one I need to hear. Yeah. ’cause again, as

Special Podcast Guest: I said, my mother was saying, Hey, you need to call. Hey, you need to call. And I was like, okay. I, I’ll prove to you this doesn’t wanna talk to me. I picked the phone [00:10:00] and I called,

Dawn Pruszkowski: she’s probably asleep, but you know what, I’m gonna call anyway.

Just to show you

Special Podcast Guest: Exactly. Now, now in hindsight, it all makes sense. But you know, back then not none, none of that made sense to me.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Well see, and mom, mom is listening to what God was saying. God’s saying, Rob the clock here, get that boy to call.

Special Podcast Guest: Yes. Yes. Get your

Dawn Pruszkowski: son, get in. Yeah,

Special Podcast Guest: exactly. In hindsight, it makes perfect sense, but.

Back then it, a lot of weird things happened in my mind.

Dawn Pruszkowski: I think it’s so sweet just meeting your forever love on Christmas Eve.

Lauren Tauber: I agree. But we also have some great stories about people who got engaged on Christmas Eve.

Dawn Pruszkowski: We do. Lauren, can we talk about John creating that whole snowy scene on Emily’s Lawn when he reposed like a snow

Lauren Tauber: globe that was so [00:11:00] creative.

Right. And I love how he shared his mix of nerves and excitement.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Mm-hmm. And he thought of all the details, even down to writing her a proposal song.

Lauren Tauber: I’ve got to hear them tell their magical Christmas Eve proposal story again.

Special Podcast Guest: And um, so I’d gotten a diamond ring and I called her parents and said, Hey, I’d love to propose to her on Christmas Eve. I wanna dress up like Santa Claus and I want to create this snowy scene. It was so sappy.

It’s cute. It was really cute. But, but while

we were dating, I always told Emily, you know, if I ever propose to a girl in the future, I’ll write her a love song.

Mm-hmm. And I’ll share that, that song with her. ’cause I’m a writer, singer, songwriter. I just, I’m, I’m a creative guy and. So I show up at her house in Jackson, Tennessee. Mind you, I was in Franklin area, [00:12:00] Franklin, Tennessee, so it was about an hour and a half to two hour drive. Uh, Christmas Eve night and the whole drive there.

I’m just thinking, man, what if she says no? And, you know, all of those fills kept popping into my mind. So get off her. Exit 87. Exit 87 on I 40. Get to her parents’ house, I start knocking on her window and uh, I’ve got like a Santa hat on. It was really embarrassing.

It was cute.

It was, yeah. And so she comes to the front and I set up this scene.

She was sitting on a lawn chair and I had bought fake snow and so I, we created this snowy scene and uh, I began to sing Christmas songs to her and she would sing them with me and then eventually. I got into the song that I’d written her. Mm-hmm. So I began to sing it and. Towards the end of the song, the bridge, uh, asks if she, she would marry me.

Mm-hmm. And so I nailed down in my guitar case and [00:13:00] pull out the ring and put it on her finger, and, and she said yes. Mm-hmm. It was such a sweet, sweet night.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was precious. It was a precious. Um, there was a little, uh, glitch in that little story though. I had, um, just cut my finger on my razor and I had a bandaid on my finger.

So we had a little bit of trouble to, um, get the ring, the ring on and we come inside and my, um, grandmother, we called her Gigi. Well, John termed that nickname for her actually. Yes. Um, Gigi and, um. We were so excited and explaining to everybody. We had just gotten engaged and, um, she, she looked at my finger.

She was a very fiery spitfire of a woman. Very sassy lady. Yes. She, um, she’s like, what happened to your finger? And I told her, and she was like, well, isn’t that a [00:14:00] sign?

Like that was my first. Encounter with Geneva, but

she was funny lady.

Lauren Tauber: Yes,

Special Podcast Guest: it was wonderful night.

Lauren Tauber: That really warms my heart even more than this hot chocolate.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Absolutely. It’s filled with so much hope and love. And Lauren, I don’t know about you, but. I always feel like something new is about to happen in my life at Christmas time.

Lauren Tauber: I know what you mean. And I’d say that Martha’s Christmas engagement was definitely a step into a new season. She’d gone through so much grieving after losing her husband.

Mm-hmm. They were married, what, 40 years?

Dawn Pruszkowski: Yes. Yes. But I love how God heard the cry of her, her heart, you know, she had. Was so lonely and God was already writing a new love story for her with a widower named Tom. [00:15:00]

Lauren Tauber: This was one of our most popular episodes from Loss to Love.

Special Podcast Guest: My, my request to God was, God, I just need, I just need to cuddle.

I just, I need human contact, and that was what Tom had been praying for as well. Just. Get tired of being alone. Mm-hmm. But, but him, but him saying, but I, me laughing at him going and started crying and he looks at me and I said, you know, this is an answer to prayer. So, you know, second date we knew, we knew that we’d be together.

So since it was short, and like I say in our age here, I was 71 and him six years older and, and we got sent on. At this age, we don’t sit around and have a long courtship. So after, uh, got to know him on October, we had dinner with our families and Thanksgiving and, uh, Christmas he asked, he, uh, we were sitting [00:16:00] table at the house one night and he goes, do you want to be married?

I said, me to cracking my jokes open and yeah. And so he runs back into the room, back bedroom and brings out a dime. And says, will you marry me? And, and it was just so precious. He sat there, pat, we, the old lady and the old man sitting there patting each other’s hands going, he’d be all right. So, so there he proposed me to me at Christmas.

So two months dating. So hanging out and. The thing about you when you realize that when you first get married, you’re in life and love comes with being together and learning to live together. Mm-hmm. So, so we knew we had a really good chance to have a good life and so we set our wedding date for March of, of 2022.

So altogether I’d only known him five months when the day we got married. Wow. [00:17:00] And I think that was so neat and he’s, he’s been such a blessing since then.

Dawn Pruszkowski: That was such a precious love story. You know, Lauren, I had to do several takes of my outro because I was crying out of so much joy and thankfulness after she shared.

Lauren Tauber: I remember. It’s such a sweet story.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Oh gosh. But now let’s talk about that Christmas wedding. Hi, Kelly, you Masters Reno. She’s that top female sports agent and lawyer, and she has an amazing story about her Christmas Eve wedding.

Lauren Tauber: He really does. It’s just like a Hallmark movie. The beauty, the colors, the candlelight, and the symbolism.

Emmanuel God with us. What a day to commit yourself to someone.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Right? And that’s exactly what Kelly and her husband Dale wanted as part of their Christmas Eve wedding. [00:18:00]

Lauren Tauber: Wait, Dawn, weren’t they not even dating before they got engaged?

Dawn Pruszkowski: Yes.

Lauren Tauber: Didn’t Dale’s dad tell him just before he passed away that God had shown him that Dale was to marry Kelly?

Dawn Pruszkowski: Yes, but they didn’t even think of each other in a romantic way. Could you imagine? I mean, they had been friends for decades and Dale was 15 years older than Kelly, so they didn’t see each other that way, but when they prayed, their hearts knew, yes, this is my spouse. Talk about a leap of faith.

Lauren Tauber: It blows my mind that they didn’t tell anybody or make any plans until five days before the wedding.

We have to hear Kelly tell the story.

Special Podcast Guest: Yes. And so quite honestly, you know, it caught him off guard when his dad said, this is who you should marry. This is who God is saying you should marry. Um. Dale didn’t know what to do with that, so [00:19:00] he passed away and then he had the conversation with me and he said, I need to tell you what my dad said.

And he said, before I tell you, I just have to ask you a question. Have you ever had any feelings for me? And I went like, as a dad, he’s like, no, like romantic. And I kind of went like, no. Ew. No. I mean that’s, no, I have never, I’m so sorry, but no, I’ve never seen you in that light. That’s like, at the moment I was like, no.

I said, you know, I, I’ve always had such a respect for you as a person and as a father, and even watching you as a husband fighting for your marriage. I’ve always had such respect for you and, and I was heartbroken for you, but no, sorry. Like, and he said, well, that’s what my dad thinks my dad. My dad thought that God really wanted us together and I, I said, I, you know, I [00:20:00] love your dad, but maybe he was just, you know, he wasn’t doing well in his last days.

Maybe he was delusional, but as I was saying that I was so convicted and my husband kinda like Dale, my husband. Yeah. Ejected, which now I understand why. Um, ’cause he had been praying. He said, well, just. Just pray about it. And so I went home that night. I think I shared that with you. I went home that night the whole way, sort of not wanting to ask, not wanting to ask God, because I already kind of knew the answer.

And I got home and I got in my prayer place and I just said, God, I don’t see this. Like I am not feeling this, but if this is you, you’re gonna have to show me. And almost instantly it was just this strong conviction and peace, not feelings yet. Mm-hmm. But strong conviction and peace. Yes. This is me, this is my voice.

This is [00:21:00] your husband, there is your husband. And you can either receive it or you can keep running from it. And, and I also knew in that moment I had a choice. And it just, it opened my eyes to thinking, you know, I, I was sitting in that moment of knowing, you know, that, that God had just revealed who my husband was, which was something I had been waiting my entire life to hear.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Mm-hmm.

Special Podcast Guest: I had a choice. I could say I, it just doesn’t seem right. And I thought, oh my gosh, people are gonna think this. People are gonna think that. Like, I thought you, you know, I thought you saw him as a dad. Now you like, why were you marrying him? Um, he’s so much older than you and this doesn’t make sense.

And, um, I really wrestled with, you know, God, I know this is you, but I just don’t know if I’m ready for this to be the answer.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Mm-hmm.

Special Podcast Guest: But I also knew that my, when I surrendered my life and I said, God, I’m gonna trust you no matter what you tell me to do that it was [00:22:00] he, my entire walk with God. He’s asked me to step out and do things that I didn’t feel ready to do.

And that seemed kind of crazy. And this definitely was one of those moments. And so I said yes to God, and a few days later I said yes to they all. And we never actually dated. Um, no one knew that we had had that conversation. His one of his daughters was getting married in December, that God was dealing with both of us, that we are supposed to get married that Christmas and makes sense like, we’re not gonna take away from your daughter’s wedding.

We can’t tell anybody. So we didn’t tell anybody, and I didn’t even start planning the wedding. Until after his daughter got married, um, on December. So we, she got married on the 17th. We told everyone we were getting married on the 19th and we got married on Christmas Eve. Oh wow. I planned my wedding in five days, [00:23:00] four years, and then I planned my wedding in five days.

But it was the most beautiful, perfect day. I could not have asked for a better, um, you know, a, a better, uh, day or a better experience because I was just ready to say yes. And Dale had prepare. I mean, God had prepared me my entire life to be Dale’s wife. And in that moment that I stepped into obedience and did, and quite frankly didn’t really have those butterflies and those like in love feelings for him, um, when I said yes, I just said yes because I knew that who God wanted me to marry and I respected him and I had a love for him, and I just said, God, you’re gonna have to take what I have.

Make it what it’s supposed to be and make me the wife that I’m supposed to be. Um, and now I’m very happy to say we are. You are in love every single day saying, I love you today. All came pretty naturally because I [00:24:00] did love him. But saying, I love you as your wife and I wanna be with you and I want to build a life with you.

Was was a bigger step. I said yes to marrying him before I felt like I could say, I love you as a wife. I love you as a partner. Um, I don’t know that I reached that point of being able to say that with my, just with all my hearts until our wedding day.

And

I never doubted that I would become, that I never doubted God’s will and that he had s spoken to me.

To do this, I knew I had to hear from God personally. Mm-hmm. I couldn’t just say he heard from God and his dad heard from God. I needed to know. And so knowing and hearing in my spirit, God dealing with me saying, this is your husband. I never had a doubt, but it was on my wedding day and I, I literally was so emotional that it’s just happy tears all day long from the moment I woke [00:25:00] up.

I couldn’t wait to say my vows and tell ’em I lept him. Um, and we, you know, we should, our first kiss was in front of everybody, you know. Um, and it was a very, very sweet, the first thing we did when we got married, obviously he announced, you know, husband and wife. I got my first kiss from him, and then we took communion together.

Um, and that was, that was how we felt. And then we celebrated Christmas, ’cause it was on Christmas Eve. Mm-hmm. And we go back actually every single year on Christmas Eve at two 30, which is when we set our vows and we do a little champagne toast together. And it’s almost like we renew our vows. You know, every single year, same place in front of the Christmas tree that we got married in front of.

Um, and it’s just a really special memorial to that moment. But that was the day when I can say I love you and I wanna be wife. Happy anniversary. Kelly and

Lauren Tauber: Dale,

Dawn Pruszkowski: may your love continue to grow and bless others. If you haven’t heard these [00:26:00] couples full love stories, be sure to go to our website, unexpected Love Stories, to watch their stories, to read more about them and to see their love story photos.

The link to the website is in the episode guide below,

Lauren Tauber: Don. Something I’ve heard you say on the show is that love arrives right on time, and I think Christmas is a good reminder of that. God’s timing is perfect, isn’t it?

Dawn Pruszkowski: Yes it is. And if you’re watching and hoping for your own unexpected love story, we want you to know this.

God has not forgotten you. He knows your story. He knows your heart, and he has the best gift for you. Will you trust him? After all, he writes the best love stories.

Lauren Tauber: This season has a way of opening us up to possibilities and who knows. Your own Christmas miracle might be closer than you think

Dawn Pruszkowski: to all the couples who’ve shared their amazing love stories with us this year.

And to [00:27:00] all of you watching or listening at home, Merry Christmas from unexpected love stories. Family

Lauren Tauber: may, your home must be filled with peace, joy, and the love that God gives so freely. Mm-hmm.

Dawn Pruszkowski: Well, I hope that your heart feels lighter and full of hope today. And remember, often the best love stories are the ones we never saw coming.

So keep your heart open because love truly is waiting for you. Merry Christmas everyone.

Lauren Tauber: Merry Christmas everyone.