Tompkins Blog

Hello Jewellery Lovers!

I know what all of you are thinking… with Christmas over and the thrill of gift giving all over, what could we at Tompkins Jewellers possibly have left to blog about? Well, I am here to remind all of you avid jewellery lovers that New Year’s Eve is right around the corner and who wouldn’t want a romantic proposal as a way to bring in the New Year?! For those of you who are unfamiliar, once a week we post a romantic story from Twenty Ways to Pop the Question by David W. Richardson and Jean M. Means as a way to help out with romantic ways of proposing and/or giving gifts to our romantic partners. And those of you who are without, get a lovely story to brighten up our afternoon! So recline in your lazy boy, turn on the countdown and get ready to pop the champagne!

Happy New Year!

It was New Year’s Eve, the dawning of the New Year, and here they were getting ready to crawl into bed at ten o’clock just like any other night of the year. No amount of coaxing could convince Derrick to stay up and celebrate. “We can celebrate tomorrow,” he said, and Anne, though she was a bit miffed, decided that celebrating tomorrow would just have to do.

Being somewhat of a night owl, Anne always enjoyed reading in bed before going to sleep. Derrick, on the other hand, was gone the minute his head hit the pillow. This night was just like any other… or was it?

The day before, Derrick had gone to the store and purchased a copy of the book Anne was currently reading, and that afternoon he had replaced her copy with the one he had bought. Only this one had a little surprise in it.  About fifteen pages beyond where Anne had stopped reading last night he had carved a perfectly shaped little niche for the stunning emerald ring he had bought her to celebrate the beginning of the new year together (from Tompkins Jewellers, I’m sure!).

As Derrick climbed into bed, Anne had just picked up the book and started reading. He put his head on the pillow, closed his eyes, and a few minutes later heard her laugh in pure pleasure. She exclaimed, “Oh my gosh! You are the most wonderful husband in the world!” as she grabbed him and began to shake him.

He rolled over with a dumb, sleepy look on his face and said, “Happy New Year, sweetheart”… then pulled out the champagne and two glasses he had stashed under the bed.

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If you can take a break from the champagne and celebration, we would love to hear your personal testimonials of special gift giving or proposals that you have experienced. Feel free to e-mail your story to us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and we can feature it on our blog and give your fellow Lethbridgites new ideas to spark the romance! Until next week, I will be inspecting the bottom of my champagne glass for sparkly pieces of jewellery this New Year’s Eve!

Hello Jewellery Lovers!

With the Christmas season afoot, it is imperative that we as hopeless romantics find innovative ways to present the ones we love with a special gift. Well lucky for you, we provide our readers with romantic ways to deliver that special gift to that special someone! I know what you are thinking -- "those employees at Tompkins Jewellers are creative geniuses for coming up with such innovative stories!" Well, we are flattered, but sadly we cannot take all of the credit. The stories that we post every week are from Twenty Ways to Pop the Question by David W. Richardson and Jean M. Means, and they never fail to provide us with charming stories that pull at our heart strings. This week's story combines cinnamon roles, sunrises and a diamond ring... my three favourite things ;)

Horse Sense

My boyfriend Carl and I had been dating for several years when we decided it was time for us to get married. It was pretty cut and dried, not a lot of romance or discussion. We didn't want to spend a lot of money on a ring because we were saving to buy some property where we could have a couple of horses, a dream both of us had had since childhood.

We always reserved our Saturday mornings for horseback riding at a friend's ranch, and one Saturday Carl told me to meet him extra early so we could watch the sun come up from our favourite spot.

We started our ride when it was still dark, but both of us were wide awake and looking forward to the ride. I had baked fresh cinnamon rolls the night before and brought them along with a thermos of hot coffee. The plan was to ride up into the mountains as it got light and stop in time to watch the glorious sunrise over the pasture down below.

As we rode up the trail, Carl reached over and touched my arm so tenderly it made me want to cry. I just love that man so much it hurts! I turned to smile at him and saw that he was holding a little box out toward me. We walked our horses off the side of the trail, and I opened the box to find a precious gold ring with little diamonds all across the top. It was the most beautiful ring I had ever seen.

"Carl," I whispered, "I thought we weren't going to do this."

Carl reached over and slipped the ring on my finger as my eyes filled with tears.

"Joanne, I love you so much that I want every single person who sees you to notice that you have a ring on your finger and know that our love for each other is a special thing for us. That ring is nothing fancy, but the depth of love it carries is beyond measure. Will you be my wife?"

What a special moment in my life. That was fifteen years ago, and I'm reminded of it every time we ride our horses up that trail to watch the sunrise together.

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I don't know about you readers out there, but my eyes also filled with tears when he slipped the ring on her finger.. although I am a little bit concerned about the fate of the cinnamon rolls! As usual, we would love to hear stories from our readers about romantic gift exchanges or proposals of your own. You can e-mail your story to us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , and we would love to share it on our blog! Until next week, you can find me standing outside Tompkins with a Cinnzeo bun, admiring the gorgeous diamond rings on display...

Hello jewellery lovers!

Another week has come and gone, and so many changes have come and gone with it! For instance, I am now sporting my fleece penguin gloves and ear-muffs as a result of that scary/and or splendid snow, depending on how you look at it I suppose... For those of us who are frightened by the snow, I have chosen a festive romantic proposal that will warm you right up! For those readers new to the blog, every Saturday we post a story of a unique way to propose to your loved one from Twenty Ways to Pop the Question by David W. Richardson and Jean M. Means. And lucky for you, this particular story gives you an idea so conveniently close to Christmas. So cuddle up to something warm and fuzzy, and enjoy!

Warm Fuzzies

Our family celebrates Christmas with a vengeance... gifts overflowing beneath the tree like we're the richest people on earth. In abundance of love we are rich; in money we're not exactly drowning in it! But we enjoy a Christmas tradition of buying each other small, entertaining gifts throughout the year so we have lots of presents when we get home from Church on Christmas morning.

David and I had been dating for almost two years, and I wanted to share in all of our Christmas fun and blessings. I invited him to join my family for the holiday.

On Christmas morning we were having the time of our lives laughing and teasing each other about the outrageous gifts we had each received. David had even gotten his share of funny gifts and managed to sneak in a few of his own. He had given my Mom a potholder shaped like a pig and my Dad an apron saying "Kiss the Cook".

Everyone in the room burst out laughing when I opened the box he had wrapped so carefully to conceal a pair of bedroom slippers shaped like big elephant heads. "These are so adorable!" (not quite as adorable as penguin merchandise -- make note) I said as I took my old slippers off to replace them with the new ones.

I pulled the first elephant head onto my right foot and waggled it at him with a big grin. Then I pulled the second slipper on, but "Ouch!" There was something stuck in there! I reached in to see what it was. As I pulled out a sparkling diamond engagement ring, David knelt down in front of me and took it from my hand.

As he held the ring poised at my finger, he said, "Denise, I can't think of a better time and place to ask you to be my wife. Marry me?"

David's beautiful surprise had left me speechless, but my family helped me out with shouts of "Say yes!"

What a wonderful Christmas memory that will be for my whole family.

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How many times did you "awe"? Well, now that we are all feeling festive I should mention that Tompkins Jewellers is hosting a SteelX party on December 1st, and it is a perfect opportunity to get a Christmas gift for the one you love. You could even hide it inside of a slipper as a surprise! All of the information is on the blog section of our website and our facebook page. And like always, we love to encourage our readers to send in their own romantic proposal story or that of someone you may know that you think would be lovely for us to post! You can send it into This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Until next week, I will be searching frantically for a piece of jewellery through all of my warm, fuzzy slippers!

And wouldn't you know it ..."Of course I will marry you David, I'd be proud to be your wife."