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When we finish caroling to the home directly across from my parent’s, Bernice and Gerda abruptly cross the street instead of continuing down the row to the rest of the houses. I can’t carry a tune to save my life, and definitely wasn’t wanting to sing for anyone who actually knows me. I run ahead to catch up with our fearless leaders.
“What are we doing? This is my parent’s house. Can't we just skip to the next one?” I beg, trying to escape my inevitable embarrassment.
They just smile at me endearingly but continue walking up to my parent’s front door and ring the doorbell.
Mom and Dad open the front door not even one second later, like they were expecting someone.
“Oh, hello! Oh my, are you Christmas carolers?” My mom asks with a beaming smile. She’s a terrible actress.
“How delightful!” Dad claps his hands together.
Madden, Odette, David, and Brooks all step out onto the front stoop with huge smiles lighting up their faces. They all have coats and gloves on already, so it’s pretty obvious they knew we were coming.
Bernice and Gerda take a few steps back to stand with the rest of our group and they start us off singing, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”
This is so freaking weird. Why wouldn’t anyone have told me we were caroling to my family today? And how did they even know the correct address?
Our song ends, and instead of the second classic Christmas carol we’ve sung to literally every other house, Bernice and Gerda begin to sing Mariah Carey’s, “All I Want For Christmas is You.” When everyone else jumps in to sing with them—my family included—my mind is still reeling at how strange this is becoming.
The front door opens behind my family, and Drew comes into view. His mouth slowly pulls up in a grin. Emily, Penny and Samantha, who are all bundled up, rush outside with him to stand with my family. Drew walks towards our group, but everyone disperses, leaving just the two of us standing in the middle of the front yard. Right before Drew gets to me, he bends at the waist and grabs the ends of two extension cords laying in the grass and plugs them together. The top of my parent’s house lights up and my jaw drops.
Tears rush to my eyes when I see the words “Will you marry me?” spelled out on the roof with Christmas lights.
When I bring my attention back to Drew, he’s down on one knee in front of me. Everyone is still singing in the background as he takes my hand in his. He removes my left glove and kisses my palm before turning my hand over.
With his free hand, he takes a small velvet box out of his pocket and opens it. “Sophie, will you please marry me and move out of my basement and into my room?”
He opens the box to reveal a gorgeous emerald-cut diamond on a thin gold band.
I laugh as tears stream down my cold cheeks. “Yes, Drew. I’ll marry you.”
Without waiting for him to get back up on his feet, I kneel, put my hands on his cheeks and kiss him good, not caring who’s watching. The group of friends and family surrounding us whistle and cheer, but we just keep kissing each other. Penny and Samantha storm out to meet us in the yard, so we finally pull apart and hug them. Drew places the lovely ring on my finger and the girls ooh and ahh over it.
“Alright, it’s freezing, let’s get inside!” Dad shouts and opens the front door.
Mom nods. “Yes, there’s plenty of hot soup for everyone!”
Everyone shuffles inside, but Drew, Penny, Samantha and I hang back for a minute, enjoying this moment together. The four of us eventually walk inside, hand in hand. All together as a family.
