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I can’t stop smiling…Last night Joel took me into the city. We took the train up and then went out to dinner and had the best meal I’ve had in a long time, mmmm. From there we walked down Michigan Ave and over to Navy Pier where we walked around and saw the Winter Wonder Fest .

After that we went into the theatre and saw Much Ado About Nothing.

photo courtesy of Chicagoshakes.com
Isn’t it beautiful?

We got great box seats on the third level and sat back to enjoy the show. The first half of the production was very funny and excellently done and then came the intermission. Everyone around us filtered out and we were left alone. That’s when he told me to close my eyes and when he said I could open them again…

Of course I said yes…in about five different ways as a matter of fact, hehe. I was absolutely blown away by how beautiful the ring was and what a perfect moment it was…it was just perfect. I spent most of the second half of the show distracted by how gorgeous my ring is. I’ve never seen a ring that sparkled so much and it looks perfect on my hand. It was just like a dream, Joel couldn’t have picked a better moment. *happy sigh*

So yeah, I’m so happy right now I sparkle just about as much as my ring does. God couldn’t have blessed me with a more perfect guy and I’m so excited about our future together *big smile*

P.S. You can also see his version of the evening (along with a bigger picture of the ring).

For those of you who don’t really know me I’ll give you the short version…I’m a scrooge, a grinch, a…however you want to say it, I hate Christmas. There are a lot of reasons as to why but I won’t go into all them right now. Let’s just say that for me Christmas is usually a time of stress, disappointment and waste. I hate the idea of giving presents to someone because I have to or getting one because someone felt like they had to buy it for me…what an awful idea! I hate the stress of getting everything in the house to look perfect because someone may come over for a couple hours. I hate the stress of getting everyone together so that we can be here or there or where ever on time…or the stress that happens when we’re late. And trust me, trying to get eight or more people together and somewhere on time is not easy. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I’ve never had a good Christmas or that I’m looking to ruin Christmas for anybody else, I’ve just had enough bad holidays that I’d just as soon skip it.

So, this year I’m sure you can imagine I was not looking forward to Christmas at all. But, since there was no way for me to skip it I bought all my presents (I’ll admit it, I got all excited about wrapping them and couldn’t wait to see them be opened) and braced myself, planning to just survive this holiday without too much damage…

….and somehow, I had a wonderful time. It was so wonderful going to my Grandparents house Christmas Eve and seeing some of my Aunts and Uncles. Then, when we got home late that night, there wasn’t any of the usual last minute stress of wrapping presents because it was all already done. In fact, I stayed up having a really nice conversation with my mom and sister Naomi until 1:30am. Around 9am (not too early, thank goodness) my excited ten year old sister Anna woke me up and we had a great time opening presents and eating breakfast. Then I took a nap, hung out with people and then helped with Christmas dinner. The one sad part of the day was the fact that my brother Greg and his family are in Brazil and therefore couldn’t be with us, I really missed seeing them like we usually do on Christmas. Other than my holiday could hardly have been better.

Next Christmas I will probably celebrate Christmas at my own home, but I will never forget this Christmas and how perfect it was to just be with my family. *big smile*

Here are a couple pictures from my Christmas Day:

For Christmas I gave Rebekah my cat Millie. First of all because of the uncertainty of how my life’s going to go over the next couple months and years and second of all because she’s taken care of her and loved her the last year and a half when I was gone. She was really happy about it.

This is the first thing he did when handed his present…”If I can’t eat it, what good is it??” lol

“Will smile for food”

We celebrated Christmas Eve at my Grandpa Bart and Grandma Carolyn’s house as we’ve done for just about as long as I can remember. I hadn’t been able to come the last couple years for different reasons so it was so nice to finally be back.

My Grandma and Grandpa Vander Velde at who’s house we spent Christmas Eve

Me and my sweet little nephew

Here we all are, back together again…amazingly enough, it’s wonderful *smile*

[click on the image above to view this QuickTime video]

Just a little something to get you all in the Christmas spirit. Merry Christmas Everyone! *wink*