sweet thing

Yesterday was an amazing day!  Our quiet Christmas celebration turned out to be much much more than I expected.  Bret and I will be taking an eight day vacation on Sunday, so we decided that was gift enough, and in order to keep us from feeling terribly homesick, we planned for our Christmas day to be very low-key.

I was fortunate enough to open gifts with my family over video chat.  It was Christmas morning here and Christmas Eve there so the timing worked out.  While I was celebrating with my family, Bret was busy finishing wrapping my gifts, and before opening ours we opened a bottle of champagne from Evelyn's family to celebrate.  We took turns opening the gifts we had for each other, mostly NZ souvenirs and things we'd always walked by in stores but never actually bought.  My last gift from Bret was a slideshow of our photos from the last eight years, accompanied by some of our favorite songs.  After twenty minutes of giggling at the old photos and reminiscing on some of our best times, the slideshow ended with "Will you marry me?" written across the screen.  I was in absolute, instant shock, and was immediately in tears.  There's Bret, down on one knee, with a ring, trying hard to keep it together.  And I, a huge blubbering mess, only able to utter "For real?!".  Bret points to the screen which now reads "Hopefully you said "yes"..." and I finally muster a yes through the tears!  I can't even believe it!

So we are now happily engaged!  The time difference and holiday proved difficult to notify everyone in a timely fashion, but we're reaching out to everyone that we can to share the good news which includes Bret's three best friends in Ecuador, Israel, and China!  It feels a bit surreal, because we are so far away from everyone, that I still don't think it's fully set in.  I am excited, exhilarated, and thrilled to be in love with my best friend.  We can't wait to get back to the United States and celebrate!