At an Omaha celebration this week, husband-and-wife physicians recalled falling in love long ago at a Christmas party at the National Institutes of Health while sipping champagne from glass beakers.

Dr. Alison Freifeld drew laughter Monday from 230 people at the Happy Hollow Club when she quipped, “Everyone looks great when you’ve had a little champagne, right?”

She and her husband , Dr. Ken Cowan , who came to Omaha from the East Coast in 1999 and raised two daughters, jointly received the annual Lifesaver Award from the Nebraska Coalition for Lifesaving Cures.