was perfect!  Just as my "fiancee" (hehe, he no longer holds the title of "boyfriend") dropped me off at home Christmas Eve, he handed me a letter with the number 1 written on it.  Confused, he told me he had a little something planned and that I was to follow all the instructions in the letter.  [Before I continue, it'd be good to note that we both, the fiancee and I, helped to plan a mini Amazing Race game this past summer to I thought this was simply one of his silly, yet fun!, games ].

The first note told me to go upstairs to my room, turn on some Christmas music and to relax for a little while.  Since his Christmas present was yet to be wrapped, I figured it would be the best time to do it!  So up to my room I went with my wrapping paper and ribbons in hand.  A few minutes later, another letter came flying under my door, and every 5 minutes or so after that, another one shot under.  He was stalling  - hehe.  Still under the impression that he was planning a fun Christmas game... I didn't think anything of it.  Finally, letter number 6 came flying under the door - I was able to leave the room!

When I opened my door all I could see was a glow coming from downstairs.  As I flew down the stairs I saw tea-lights on every step leading down into the basement - so pretty!  At the very bottom was a BIG arrow (made out of tea-lights) pointing me to the backroom in the basement.  When I reached the back room (the one that usually holds our drumset, keyboard and jitz table) I noticed everything was cleared and in its place, a BIG Christmas tree all lit up with lights!!  Because my family was away for the holidays we didn't get to put up a Christmas tree.  I was kinda bummed about that and when our NYC trip fell through, I figured this would be my first tree-less Christmas... but I was wrong!  Seeing the tree in the basement, all decked up and pretty, made my Christmas that much more special!

As I walked into the room I saw a bunch of candles and small tables all decorated with... CAKES!!!  [For anyone who knows me, I am absolutely in LOVE with desserts and sweets of ALL kinds!]  Yuppers... tiramisu cake, a BIG snoman cupcake (very cute btw), a cherry cheesecake, and 2 chocolatey cakes - one chocolate mousse and the other caramel with marshmallows.  He even decorated each plate with chocolate syrup and icing sugar - hehe.  At the foot of the Christmas tree were a bunch of pillows and blankets.  Taking a seat, he presented me with my Christmas Gifts! 

Of the many gifts, the one I LOVED most was the slideshow he made, all by himself!  He has never been much of a computer person so seeing all the effort that went into the slideshow (even if some of the pictures were a little stretched - hehe) made his gift all the more special!  He had come over a week before and asked my brother to sneak him a bunch of my childhood (embarassing!) pictures so here I was watching a slideshow of the both of us growing up as kids, meeting as teenagers, and now the bestest of friends about to take that "next step" in life.

After watching the video twice (I was THAT impressed!) I turned over to where he was sitting and that's when I saw IT.  He was holding out a little black box and inside was something... sparkley.  That's when it actually hit me.  He was asking me to MARRY him!!  And as you can guess... I (obviously!) said YES!

Oh my.  I've been at work for only 3 days and it's been non-stop junk food eating!!  Each day we have a new batch of cookies/chocolates that magically appear in our department... and as much as I tell myself to "slow down"... I just can't!  You can't put sweets in front of me and expect me to walk right by them - no siree.  Today we had butter cookies with chocolate/hazel nut filling - from Peru... mmmmm.  I think I ate 7... ish [give or take... 5 cookies - haha].  They were sooo yummy!  And to think, the holiday dinner's haven't even started yet! 

Tonight I'm attempting to make (for the first time) corn chowder for a Christmas dinner tomorrow night.  I pray it turns out ok cause I'm making it for approximately 30-40 people.  If not, I'm going to be left with one HUGE pot of corn soup!  Any takers?!

Happy almost Christmas everyone!