London, Dec 29 (IANS) A British woman rummaging through a box found a 23-year-old photograph in which she was standing next to a boy – and realised that it was her husband whom she had not known then.

Stephanie Faulkner and husband James didn’t know each other when the photograph was clicked at a Christmas fair.

They didn’t meet again until 2001 when they got talking in a pub. They hit it off and went on to marry earlier this year.

‘I was going through a box of photos that had been at my mum’s house when I pulled out this particular one.

‘It was me with Santa in a school hall. The little boy’s face seemed familiar and then my heart skipped a beat,’ The Sun quoted Stephanie, 27, as saying.

She said: ‘When I showed it to James he couldn’t believe it. It was him! It seems my nursery school had shared a party with his school and my mum took the picture after Father Christmas gave us both presents.

‘When we told James’s parents, his mum pulled out an identical photo. It was unbelievable.’

The couple have now kept the picture on the mantelpiece at their home in Sleaford, Lincolnshire.