I love Christmas Eve. I love it more than Christmas day because of the anticipation of what Christmas will bring. The family time, the gifts, the surprises. And I love my traditional date with dad. This year's Christmas Eve gave me another reason to love this day. Dad and I started our annual date at the local flower shop where dad was picking up a holiday table centerpiece for mom, another annual thing. The owners are business friends of mom and dad so naturally we struck up a convo about my transition back home and my puppy and my "new love life" as dad called it. I gave him a healthy slug when he insinuated to an impending wedding.
This year held a new tradition: Christmas time with a new family. After Dad and I returned from our date, Rick and I packed up our gifts and headed out in his mustang to his parents house in Howell. Rick said we needed to make a pit stop however so we needed to leave a little earlier. His mom wanted us to pick up a dress she was having altered. When I suggested we take my car, Rick quickly volunteered to take his. I thought it was a little silly to take his since he's always driving but I wasn't going to argue, you know the price of gas these days...
We got off at the Brighton exit and I soon recognized where were, in downtown Brighton, near the mill pond we had visited this past summer with Tybee and chased ducks around.
I was super suspicious Rick was up to something ever since the previous night when after dinner at Ronin he wanted to walk around downtown Royal Oak but mentioned how silly the city was for not having "pretty lights" out on all the trees for Christmas. We opted for going to Starbucks where I perused the humor section on pinterest sipping my caramel macchiato while he nodded off at the bar after inhaling his frappe. I was ready for bed. I had only slept 2-ish hours that day after slaving away on Santa cupcakes (a pinterest success) and quite frankly, a couple shots of espresso is no match for my insatiable need for sleep. As we were leaving Starbucks he pulled me by my hand to the front of the building and he slipped his other hand into his coat pocket. I deadbolted myself to the ground and told him "No! You don't have the ring!" He giggled it off as we made our way to the car but curiosity struck me so I came in to pat his coat over where he was supposedly going to grab the ring box. I felt nothing. But he would not give up trying to get me to go for a walk that night. When we got home, he kept saying, "There are no pretty lights anywhere, I want to walk around where there are pretty Christmas lights." I admittedly refused, pleading to just go to bed. Now I was real suspicious. Rick never asks that much for me to do something I don't want to do. He even went so far as to say, "It will be worth it." Trying to entice me into going for a walk. He finally gave up when he found me in my bed, lights out, under the covers. He hugged me and said, "Tomorrow is going to be a great day, I'm going to make you really happy."
So now I was pretty certain of what was fast approaching as I scanned the surrounding buildings of the parking lot for an alteration business open on Christmas Eve. I was sitting in the passenger seat cradling a tomato box lid with the Santa cupcakes and deviled eggs, my contributions to Christmas Eve dinner. Rick put the car in park and went to pick the lid up off my lap when I said I would just wait in the car. When he said I had to come in I decided I should just go to save him from coming up with another excuse to get me out of the car. He later told me that he had expected a bigger fight out of me to stay in the car. I trudged cautiously on the ice-y concrete in my 4 inch black heels. As we rounded the corner of one of the buildings I could hear the quacking of the ducks on the pond. I immediately lit up when I saw the poofed-out white and mallard ducks sitting on the ice surface quacking away. I really love ducks. Rick shot way ahead of me to the middle of the bridge while I stopped at the threshold eyeing the un-shoveled bridge waiting for him to get the clue to come and get me so I had something to hang on to. There in the middle of the bridge, in front of an audience of ducks, Rick quickly got down on one knee as he pulled the ring box out of the same pocket it was in the night before, I missed by an inch. "Renay..." as he cracked the box open to peek and make sure he was presenting it right-side-up, "Will you marry me?"
It was so cute and so simple and so perfect and so us. He was so excited to give me the ring he forgot to put it on my finger and then he couldn't wait to get me back to the car to show me my other surprise. While dad and I were enjoying our lunch, Rick and mom were at the flower shop, the same one Dad and I were at just hours before, talking to the shop owners about the proposal and putting together an arrangement for me of colored roses and white hydrangeas, my two favorite flowers. Mom hid it in the backseat under one of her blue tablecloths. It's a wonder I didn't notice it when I got in, I think I was more astounded by how clean Rick's car all of a sudden was.
We giggled and smiled and I stared at my hand the rest of the way to his parent's house. I couldn't believe we were now officially engaged. That we could start planning the wedding, that I could call him my fiance. When we got to the house, I could feel his mom and sister-in-law burning a hole onto my left hand knowing that the plot the night before had back-fired and not knowing if today was going to succeed or not. His dad patted him on the back and I was warmly welcomed into the Bethke family...officially.
When we returned to my parents' house after church service, mom had that goofy smile on her face so I just held out my hand. I knew they already knew it was coming so I didn't have to introduce or make any announcements. Christmas day, I waited for each of my family members to come over. The ring introduced itself as Kelly asked, "Um, what's that on your left hand?" Boy did a good job picking a sparkly one. :)
Rick's sister-in-law said it best, a year ago last Christmas, no one saw this Christmas coming. I know I certainly didn't see it for me (I thought I was doing really good with the dog). And what a complete difference to share this joy and excitement and anticipation with my family and his. It feels like everyone is on board with this wedding, this union.
Being at the end of 2013 and reflecting on all that has happened: watching Tybee grow, settling into a new and challenging career, developing this relationship with Rick, mending family ties and making up for lost time...we are looking forward to so many new and exciting things to come in 2014.
So it begins: planning the wedding. Lord willing, dear readers, by next Christmas Eve, I'll be Mrs. Bethke! Stay tuned!
