The Best White Elephant Gift Ever

I'm not a very hard person to surprise because #1) I'm generally rather skeptical and/or #2) I don't like to spoil surprises so I don't believe what I hear or I purposely forget clues that I see. So if someone had walked up to me and said, on December 8, 2010, before 7:00, "Nate's going to propose to you tonight," I would not have believed them. Nate and I have been talking about our plans for a while, but I wasn't expecting a ring on my finger until after Christmas, for various reasons.

The church Christmas party started out very normally. We walked in, started saying hi and hanging out with the people we love. Mary Ellen showed us her package right away and said, "You guys should pick my gift. It's the best." To which we both replied sarcastically, "Oh, yeah, I'm sure. Whatever." (There's generally only one reason people tell you to pick their gift at a white elephant party, and that's because it's the lamest one possible.) Well, then we drew our numbers and Nate got #1. He whined about it dramatically, because if he got something extra dumb, he'd have to be stuck with it the whole time, and couldn't trade with anyone. He joked with someone about trading it, etc. So, everything was normal.

Then we were all there, and got started with the gift exchanging. Since Nate was #1, all eyes were on him, and he made sure that everyone knew he was picking his gift. (He had asked me just before, "Do you think I should pick Mary Ellen's?" She has kept bugging us to pick her's and I was convinced she was actually serious, so I said, "Yeah, I think you'd better.") Nate is 6'8" and when he makes an announcement with his hands in the air most people don't miss it. So he sat down with ME's gift and started unwrapping it. It was a box inside of a box, inside of a box. We were all laughing and it still seemed incredibly normal.

Then he pulled out a ring box. My initial thought was "What a horrible joke!" Nate got down on his knee in front of me and I thought, "And Nate's going along with it!"

"Stop, Nate," I begged him. But then he opened the box. I saw three things: It was a Kay box. It was a real ring. It was just the kind of ring I sort-of specified to him. My mind immediately concluded: This is real!

Everyone was REALLY laughing and cheering now. Then Nate started talking and it got quiet.
"Liz, you got me. I never expected to be in this place with you, but here we are. You've helped me go from being a kid to being a man. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"

I could barely gasp out "YES!"

And the rest is history. :) Best White Elephant gift ever. Best proposal ever, to me. :)

Here are a few pictures.