Perfect Christmas

I stood up and stretched, “Bed time,” I yawned.
My girlfriend, Carly, stared at me in shock, “You’re going to bed?” she motioned to all the unwrapped presents sitting on the floor.
“I’m a very tired boy,” I leaned down and kissed her head, “There’s only three that really matter that are left to wrap, and you’ve told me repeatedly I suck at wrapping presents.”
“At least clean up,” her cute little whine made me smile.
“Fine,” I picked up the remnants of our gift wrapping extravaganza.
She only had one present left to wrap, but it was big. That gave me about seven minutes to prepare her gift.
I kissed her head again and rushed to the bedroom we had shared for a year and a half now, well at least during the off season. We had flown home on a red eye the night before to Madison and would be celebrating Christmas with our families. They would be over early in the morning to open gifts and I couldn’t wait. Since moving from Chicago to Dallas the previous year, we hardly got to see our old friends and family, so this would be nice.
I took a step back and smiled at all I had done in under ten minutes. I snuck out onto the balcony off of our bedroom to wait for her. It was cold, but I was a hockey player who had grown up in Wisconsin, so I would be able to withstand a slight chill. I had turned the light off and opened the curtains on the sliding glass door that led out to a balcony. The only lights on were the Christmas lights I had some how snuck up during the day.
Carly opened the door and she looked to the bed. when she didn’t see me in it she looked out toward the lights. I stood off to the side with a smile on my face. i could see her, but I wasn’t sure if she could see me yet. It hadn’t snowed yet, at least none that had stuck and I knew she wanted snow when we were home. I had gotten fake snow and spread it all around the balcony.
The balcony door opened and she was grinning, “Adam, what’s all this?”
“Merry Christmas baby,” I put my arms around her middle and pulled her into a hug.
She hugged back, “For being such a badass, you’re pretty sweet. i should tell everyone all the little things you do for me,” she looked up at me and her green eyes were a little teared up.
“Don’t tell them just yet,” I pulled completely away from her.
Carly watched in awe as I got down on one knee, “Carly I would have never expected any woman to walk into my life and make me reevaluate it the way you did. You made me change all my rules in less than a day and I should have done this a long time ago,” I paused because I was now starting to tear up, “Will you marry me?”
She licked her lips and looked out into our backyard, “Adam Burish, I swear you are a diehard romantic.”
I was getting nervous because she wasn’t answering my question so I kissed her hand, “Only for you baby; you turned me into this guy.”
Her eyes came back down to mine, “Well, since I’ve made you change so drastically,” she wiped a tear from her cheek, “Of course I’ll marry you,” her voice cracked.
“Good because my knee is really cold,” I laughed and slid the ring on her finger.
I stood up slowly so that I could catch her lips with mine, “Merry Christmas,” I told her quietly.
She kissed me back and we stood out there for a minute just doing that. carly pulled away from me and put her hands on my chest and her forehead against my chin. She sniffled and I kissed her forehead, “I love you so much Car,” I ran a hand through her hair.
She sighed and sniffled at the same time and just nodded, “Did I render you speechless?” I chuckled.
She nodded again and looked up at me, “It’s not often I do that,” I smiled.
She saw a tear fall from my eyes and wiped it away with her thumb, “I love you Adam,” she told me.
“I love you too,” I kissed her nose and felt something cold hit my cheek.
She felt something too because she looked up at the sky and her smile grew wider. I looked up too and had to laugh, it was snowing. It was that perfect snow that was light and airy, but just enough to know that it would stick if it kept up.
Her eyes met mine again, “Perfect Christmas.”
I hugged her from behind as she turned to watch the snow fall and smiled to myself. I, Adam Burish, the ladies man himself, had just proposed to a woman. Not just any woman, the most amazing woman I had ever met. She was right, this was the perfect Christmas.