Nate was acting very stressed out several days prior to Christmas Eve and I thought maybe it was just with the stress of the holidays?  He kept telling me to "make sure not to plan too much Christmas Eve morning" because he had something special planned, I really was clueless, thinking maybe he was making me breakfast?  It never crossed my mind that he would be proposing since we weren't dating very long. We had an 11 year friendship but always "just friends" although he would flirt quite a bit! 

Nate and I opened our gifts and then he handed me a card and asked me to "read it out loud."  It was your typical sweet Christmas card you would give a girlfriend, but the handwritten note was the part where I stumbled!  As I read the last sentence I saw a nervous (but very handsome) man kneeling down on one knee with an antique looking box!  Apparently EVERYONE knew about the proposal but me!  I was impressed with the ring choice...a beautiful art deco piece circa 1925, it's perfect and I couldn't have picked a better one myself!

Christmas Eve night we spent part of the night by the firepit at my sister's house. I was still in shock at this point, even after a couple of glasses of wine!

I asked Amanda to marry me on Christmas Eve.  I was pretty nervous the week leading up to the big day.  I'm sure that Amanda was wondering if I had issues or something that week.  I went back and forth on how to ask her, when to ask her etc.  Finally I decided to write a sweet note in her Christmas card and then in the last line of the note I asked her to marry me.  While she was reading the card I pulled out the ring and got down on my knee.  When she looked up I asked her to marry me.

I will never forget the complete look of shock on her face.  I thought she was expecting it, but I guess I was wrong.  After what seemed like an eternity but was only a couple of seconds she said yes!!!!