Traditionally, Christmas Day isn’t always a completely positive affair for my family. Oh sure, we have the typical moments of love and happiness as we sit there gorging on endless food with our friends and family. Usually, someone has always had too much too drink, or has a drug induced mental illness, which causes them to fly off the handle over some trivial issue and ruin the day for everyone. Last year we didn’t have such a moment, so my sister Amy and I pretended to have a fight, just so it felt like Christmas. It went something like this:

Me: OMG, YOU SUCK! (giggle)
Amy: YOU BITCH! (laugh)
Mum: What’s going on? (confused look)

This year, we were on track to have yet another good year, which I didn’t think I would be able to cope with – two in a row could cause a system overload! We spent the morning having breakfast at my dad’s place, swimming at the river, then eventually at my Mum’s place to unwrap presents and have lunch. I begun wondering what I’d need to do to make it seem like normal…whether I should have a domestic with Mat or not. As it turned out something memorable did happen, something I definitely didn’t see coming.

Mat proposed to me, and I accepted.

As I write this post my brain is still trying to come to terms with it. Before I get into the specifics of how he proposed, it’s probably best to provide a brief history of our relationship.

We met in 1998 at a bbq being held by his sister, who worked with my mother at the time. It was a house warming party, and my mum insisted I had to come with her. Reluctantly, I went. Mat and I were the only kids there so were naturally forced together by every adult in site. He was turning 15, I was 14 (there’s just under 2 years difference between us). We hung out for the day, and became friends. Coincidentally, one of his best friends, Renee, actually went to my school and was a few years above me. One day at school she came and asked for my number on Mat’s behalf, so that he could give me a call. He rang, but unfortunately for him (not for me, cause ya know, I was just *so* popular) I was already dating another guy, but Mat and I continued to chat over the phone for the next year.

One day Mat rang and invited me to a party at his place. Mum dropped me off (I guess she thought his Mum was there), and we started drinking and playing card games. At one stage during the night, I think it was actually about 2am in the morning, he tried the official “pick up” line on me.

Him: What do you think about relationships?
Me: I dunno….they’re good?
Him: What about relationships with me?
Me: I dunno…I haven’t had one?
Him: Do you want one?
Me: I dunno!! *runs away*

It appears that was all he needed to do to win me over, cause 10 years later we’re still together. Since I was about 20 (we’d been dating 5 years by that stage), people have been asking how long until we get married, to which we both always made a bad joke or insisted we would never get married.

So the actual proposal.

As previously mentioned, we were at Mum’s house opening presents. I had just opened a present containing two stable tables, which I immediately tweeted as being the best present ever (stable tables are AWESOME). Everyone else finished opening theirs, except Mat hadn’t opened the one I had given him. He was standing up to my right, and I told him that he still had one from me yet to open. He said “yeah yeah, I’ll open it soon” (in my head I thought “why the hell won’t he open it??”) At the same time, Mum was midway through telling us all something, but as you can tell I wasn’t really paying attention (oops). As soon as she finished talking, he loudly declared “I have a present for Kel”.

The next part is kinda hard to remember cause it all happened so fast. He dropped to his knee, flipped open a box to reveal a stunning ring, and said “will you marry me?” I looked at my sister Amy in shock, to find she had tears and was looking a bit choked up. I looked back at Mat, stunned and unable to think. The first words that came out of my mouth were “are you for real” quickly followed by “holy shit”. I’m such a lady. Eventually, I also managed to spit out the word “yes”.

He had to take my hand, as I hadn’t even thought to put it out for him to put the ring on my finger. I think I also repeated “holy shit” and “are you for real” another five times. I’ve never counted on being proposed to which meant I’d never thought on how I would react. I guess it showed, because swearing and not offering your hand isn’t the best reaction for a guy to get from his girlfriend. Luckily, Mat knew that I was just brain dead, shocked and unable to think, and he was able to take charge. I also noticed that he had become a little bit watery in the eyes as well, then realised that I was also crying. What a girl!! I always try to think I’m big and tough, and the first sign of something romantic, I go and cry like a wimp. My reputation is ruined.

He put the ring on, and gave me a kiss. Mum immediately stood up and congratulated us before breaking out the bubbly, while Mat and I were also congratulated by my sister. In the meantime, Pauline managed to capture the aftermath on her iPhone. I tried to hide behind my stable table (I told you they’re awesome – SO many uses) before telling Mat he wasn’t allowed to open his present anymore. I hadn’t gotten him anything special, but no matter what it was, after being proposed to it was never going to be able to compare. I later found out that Mat had rung my dad the night before and asked his permission to propose to me, as well as asking my mother. What a traditionalist (yet so sweet).

My engagement ring

The ring Mat has given me is absolutely stunning. There’s 3 diamonds; the centre one is the largest, the other two are the same size. On the sides of the ring leading down from the diamonds are 8 sapphires – 4 on each side. The casing (I’m not sure if that’s the right word, but basically the rest of the ring) is white gold. He thought it through very well, because he knows I’m not a fan of gold jewellery. Everyone I’ve shown the ring to loves it, so that’s fantastic. I have no idea how much it’s worth, and don’t really want to know. I just know that I love it – it holds a lot of meaning for me now! It was designed by Mat, and created by a friend of ours, Stu, who is General Manager and Partner of a jewellery store – Underwood Jewellers. He had purchased the diamonds and sapphires when he went on a business trip to Belgium over 6 months ago. Amazingly, Mat had spoken with Stu about the ring before the business trip, so the cheeky bugger had known for over 6 months and not said anything!

So I guess that’s it! It’s been 5 days, and I still don’t know how to say “this is my fiance Mat”, or “I’m getting married”. It’s just so strange and foreign! I guess the first thing to do is try and organise an engagement party, then knuckle down and save for a wedding. I don’t see us being able to think about getting married in the next 12 months – we’ve just got so much planned, and we wouldn’t have the funds to pay for a wedding. No doubt I’ll be blogging a lot about weddings in the next year as it plays on my mind; who would’ve thought I could be so girly?

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