One Arkansas man is sharing how thanks to the power of social media, his Christmas was even more magical than he could’ve imagined.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — This holiday season, an Arkansas man is getting a prized possession back after more than 30 years.
The story first began at the University of Arkansas during the early 1990s, when Jennifer Jones of Jonesboro was a student there. One night when she was out sledding with friends, she was given a blanket to keep warm.
“I remember being extremely cold,” Jones said. “And a guy loaned me a blanket like he went into his apartment, got the blanket, brought it to me, and I wrapped it around myself.”
However, the student who gave her the blanket had just one request.
“I will never forget him saying that his grandmother made it for him,” Jones said. “So he would need it back. I’m extremely sentimental so that just clicked with me.”
But this was a time without social media, and when many people didn’t have cell phones. So after Jennifer and the mystery student parted ways, they never saw each other again.
As a result, they weren’t able to keep in touch. That student’s name was Todd Hart, and he now lives in McRae, Arkansas.
“When I was a senior in high school, my grandmother made quilts for my twin brother and I and my sister,” Hart said of the story behind the blanket, which features a Razorback design in honor of Arkansas’s mascot. “It was sort of one of our first contacts with her, and it started a relationship we had with her until she passed.”
And over the years, Hart said he did wonder about that blanket.
“I thought about it because my twin brother and sister still have theirs. And they actually still use theirs and everything,” he described.
In the meantime, Jones hadn’t discarded the blanket— she kept it with her through 13 different moves, usually tucked away and seeing little use.
“Every once in a while I see it and I’m like, ‘Oh, I’d really like to get that back to the owner,” Jones said. “But I just keep packing it away and moving it and keeping it around.”
After rediscovering the blanket during one recent move, she got an idea. She washed the blanket, took some pictures, and posted them on Facebook with a plea to find the owner.
Thanks to the power of social media, nearly 400 shares later—Hart’s brother saw the blanket on a fraternity Facebook page.
“I got a text from my twin brother saying, ‘Hey, isn’t this your blanket,” Hart said. ” So, I reached out to her [Jones], and said, ‘Yeah, it’s mine,’ and the rest is sort of history.”
For Hart, it’s one of the most unexpected Christmas gifts he could imagine, but that just makes it all the more incredible.
“It’s 33 years later,” Hart said. “It’s been through a lifetime with her, and now it’s coming back to me, just from one night of helping her out. And it just shows what Facebook can do too. It took 20 hours to get to me from the time she posted it.”
Unfortunately, Santa must be running a little behind this year as the blanket hadn’t made it to Hart’s home in McRae by Christmas.
According to Jones, the blanket was scheduled to arrive on Friday morning. After a 33-year-long wait, he finally got his blanket back on December 28, 2024.