The Proposal

Since I apparently was in the wrong to skip from the dating to the engagement, I will now elaborate on how things came to be as they are. Here is the much requested story of the proposal.

I had just arrived back from studying in Rome the day before. My parents and Chad came down to meet me at O'Hare and bring me back home. The next day, Christmas Eve, I attended mass with my family at 9 PM and then came home for my annual gift exchange with Chad. He was waiting on the front porch as we pulled into the driveway and I got dropped off because Mom and Sarah decided to go look at Christmas lights and Dad was Grandpa's, which was strange because it was Christmas Eve and they would normally all come home with me. But anyway, that didn't enter my mind at the time and Chad and I went inside the house. I was so exhausted, still tired from jet lag and the time change, that I just wanted to put on my pajamas. Chad tried to change my mind, but waited patiently upstairs while I changed into my blue Notre Dame sweatshirt and old yellow Iowa sweatpants. We then got settled in the living room in front of the Christmas tree to exchange. It was really nice because Christmas music was playing and the fireplace was on and the room was lit from the Christmas tree.

I first gave Chad his presents which consisted of various gifts from all the places I had travelled to in Europe. And then he gave me his gifts. They were wrapped in two tall boxes and I had no idea what they could be. I opened the first and it was a bottle of wine with a cork screw. Hmm, I thought, very interesting. It was a very un-Chad-like gift, but it was sweet since I have acquired a taste for wine since being in Italy. The next box held two wine glasses. Again, I was a tad perplexed but I smiled and thanked Chad for the lovely gifts. Chad seemed uneasy, I thought because he thought I didn't like what he got me, but then he said that we should celebrate. I wasn't sure what we were celebrating, so I asked for what. And then he got down on one knee and pulled a small box from his pocket and popped the question. I just sat shocked for about 5 seconds, but I'm sure to Chad it felt like 10 minutes. Finally, I managed to say yes through my tears. It was such a surprise!

In the next few minutes, I bombarded Chad with questions about who knew and when he decided. We just sat on the couch and giggled over all his trials with getting the ring and asking my parents. He was so sweet to ask, but inadvertently my sister was the first one to know, which is funny. Other than that, only his family knew and the few people our families couldn't wait to tell, which was actually a pretty big number. We finally called our families to tell them. Then we cracked open the bottle of wine, even though Chad doesn't like wine. Since it was late on Christmas Eve, we didn't want to wake up too many people to tell them the news, but we did call Jackie and she drove over in her pajamas to see the ring. The whole time she just kept saying, "I just can't belive this. This is not for real. We're so old!" Finally I started to settle down because I was getting so tired, but then I remembered something very important- I get to pick out a wedding dress! Chad and my mom just laughed, but to me there was no sleeping to be had the rest of the night.

The next day, Christmas Day, we got to tell the rest of our families and friends and it was such a nice holiday surprise. It was also exciting because my aunt Jeanne and her boyfriend got engaged, so we had a double engagement! So this was pretty much the best Christmas ever: coming home from Rome, seeing family and friends again, and getting engaged to Chad. Of course, the wedding planning started the day after Christmas, since two years seems like a long ways away, but with school and everything else, it will be here in no time. At least that's what I keep telling myself, heehee.