In case you haven’t guessed from the title, I have something to tell…

I’m engaged!

The proposal actually happened some time ago (on Christmas day, to be exact), but I bizarrely felt that I wanted to keep it to my closest friends and family before letting the world know. I wanted to keep it between us for a little while longer and enjoyed the moment with my fiance (so weird calling him that, I’m used to calling him boyfriend. I still need some time to get myself used to this fancy new name).

Anyway, remember that quiet Christmas in Nusa Ceningan?

It was on that day that he proposed. 🙂

Lack of Christmas festivities aside, we actually had a good time that day. A day of reading by the poolside, drinking cold beers while the sun was shining mercilessly, and swimming in the sea. Came dinner time and we had dinner outside, with the sound of crashing waves and the view of twinkling lights from the neighboring island before our eyes.

We went back to our room after dinner, and I couldn’t wait to get back to my book.

“Before you read,” he said, suddenly looking serious and tense. “I haven’t given you your Christmas present.”

He pulled out a little box from his pocket, opened it, and got down on one knee before asking that question I’d very much anticipated.

And of course I said yes! 🙂

Christmas has always been a special time for us. It was around that time that we got close, and since then, we’ve always had a soft spot for Christmas. I told my best friend I was pretty sure he was going to propose on Christmas Day. I didn’t have a tip off or anything, I just knew it since we’d talked about getting married and my moving to the UK before, and I knew he wanted to propose before then (it’s very hard to surprise me, I always have strong feelings about this stuff. Not just proposal, but birthdays and whatnot. Poor guy has to work extra hard to surprise me in the years to come). He was doing so well in keeping it a secret though. I couldn’t find the ring throughout the 2 weeks I spent with him before Christmas, and I (thought I) knew the inside of his suitcase and backpack.

It’s really hard to describe all the feelings. I know I’ve said this a few times before, but this time I really mean it. How do I describe the emotions? Happy? Giddy? Overjoyed? Elated? Ecstatic? All of those? I just remember I simultaneously wanted to laugh and cry with happiness (maybe at one point I did, it was such a blurry after that), and I felt like my heart was going to explode with that much emotions.

We spent the next morning telling closest friends and family and walking at the beach to take some photos, before going back to the mainland in the afternoon.

It’s been a long way since that cold Christmas in 2014, and we’ve seen each other in a great deal of mirth and misery. The past 2 years have been incredibly hard for me, and I’m glad I have him by my side, with his endless love and support. We’ve been doing a long distance relationship for almost the entire time we’re together, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned from this, it’s that 7000 miles distance and 6-7 hours time difference don’t matter when you’re with the right person. And I can’t wait to have more days with him, the good and bad, without the massive distance and time difference.

Needless to say, this is my favorite Christmas present to date.

And now I have one more reason to love Christmas 🙂