The Best Gift on Earth

I have lots of wonderful Christmas memories thanks to my great parents and family. Unfortunately there was also one very dark one, in 1994 when my friend Angie died. For awhile I was afraid that would always be the first thing I thought of whenever I saw anything that reminded me of the season. I have to admit, I still do think of it a lot, but it's not my most prominent Christmas memory. That is reserved for Christmas, 1998.

This was the year of the big ice storm on Christmas Eve. Our power was out. After our usual Christmas morning happenings, my mom kept pestering me to go over to her friend Fanny's house (she was lucky enough to have power) to take a shower and fix my hair. I was busy visiting with family and enjoying my new gifts, so I really didn't want to. But she bugged me enough that I finally went. I'm glad she did!

I returned home and a little while later Rick came over so we could exchange our gifts. I was so excited to give him his gift. I had saved my money up to purchase a nice golf bag for him (keep in mind I was a junior in college so this was a lot of money for me!). He opened it and said a quick thanks, then wanted me to open mine. Well, I was quite miffed at the moment because I had given him this expensive (for me, anyway) gift and he didn't seem interested.

Finally I took my gift and opened it. It was a square box. Inside was a silver egg-shaped thing that I thought was a bell. I told him it was pretty and said how nice it was since I collected bells. He said to open the "bell" and I did. Before I could register what was happening he was on his knee and I could see a sparkling diamond ring inside the box. He asked me to marry him and as you know, I said yes! My whole family was in there while this was going on. It was crazy, and I have never been so shocked in my life. We had talked about getting married in a few years but I thought it would at least be summer before he proposed. He wanted to do it earlier so I would be surprised, and it worked! I'm glad my mom knew so I didn't have bedhead for this important moment in my life!

Rick, you have given me the best gift I could possibly get here on Earth. And even though the diamond is gorgeous, I'm really talking about having you as my husband. Other than the gift of Christ himself, there is nothing more precious to me than your love and knowing that you are always there for me. I'm so very thankful for the almost 10 years of marriage we have shared and look forward to many, many more years. I think back to Christmas, 1998 and, in the words of Brad Paisley, "and I thought I loved you then".