It was a week until Christmas and I had yet to put a Christmas tree up. So I began to decorate for the holiday.

Christmas had always been my favorite holiday as a child. So I cranked up the Christmas music while silently playing Hallmark Christmas movies in the background. I took the Christmas tree out of the box and began putting the three parts of the tree together, fluffing out the branches as I went.

Then I put the music playing lights on before placing the tinsel garland and ornaments on the tree.

After the tree was finally put up and ready to be gazed upon, I went into the kitchen and made myself a mug of hot cocoa. Then I flipped the light switch to the apartment off, letting the lights on the tree dance across the living room.

I turned up the sound on the Hallmark movies and enjoyed some Christmas movies while watching the tree sparkle in the darkness and sipped on my hot chocolate.

As the days got closer to Christmas, my heart began missing Jean-Paul even more. The fact that we would be spending yet another of our first holidays without each other, really broke my heart. I missed him even more for Christmas than I did for Thanksgiving. I suppose it's because Christmas is a holiday he's actually familiar with.

I spent the remaining days before Christmas making cookies, watching Christmas movies, listening to Christmas songs, buying ingredients to make for desserts at my parents' house, and messaging Jean-Paul to let him know how much I missed him.

Before getting ready for bed, I checked my phone one last time and saw a text from Mom. It read:

Blakely, please try to arrive at the house around 5 PM at the latest if you can. Your Dad and I have a surprise for you.

I furrowed my eyebrows, curious about what the surprise could be. But I didn't let myself dwell on the text for too long-if I needed to be in Kentucky by 5:00 pm, I needed to get to sleep soon.

I tried my hardest to shut my mind off for the night. After a few moments of mind meditation, I was able to fall asleep.

I was able to sleep a full eight hours before getting up and packing a couple of days worth of clothing into my duffle bag and suitcase. I put on a green tunic with white leggings hoping it would put me into the Christmas spirit.

I got into the car and enjoyed a nice ride to Kentucky, enjoying some of the classic Christmas songs.

Traffic was light, so I was back in Kentucky by 4:45.

My mother and father came out to the front porch to greet me.

When I walked around to the other side of the car, my father offered to help me carry my bags inside. He sat them down by the door and told me we could carry them up to my room later.

"I'm so glad you are here sweetheart," my Dad whispered as he pulled me in for a hug.

"As your father said, we will help you carry them up to your room later. I told you in a text message last night that we had a surprise for you. I want you to close your eyes and I will guide you into the family room," my mother added, her eyes were bright with excitement and she had a huge smile on her face.

My father walked behind me and covered my eyes to make sure I wouldn't look before I was supposed to, and my mother held my hand as she was guiding me into the family room.

"When I count to three, your father will uncover your eyes, and you will be able to look at your surprise."

I felt my heart beating out of my chest. My parents had never surprised me with a gift like this before. It must be a very big and special gift for them to go through all of the motions of surprising me like this.

"ONE," my mother shouted.

"TWO," my father added.

"THREE," they both said in unison.

My father uncovered my eyes and there, standing right in front of me, was Jean-Paul in a pair of jeans and a red fleece shirt with a green Christmas bow on his forehead.

My mouth hung open in shock. I ran into his arms, flung my arms around his neck, and wrapped my legs around his waist. I felt the tears streaming down my face at a very fast pace. I was speechless.

When my parents said that they had a surprise for me, I didn't expect this kind of surprise. Having Jean-Paul in Kentucky for Christmas was definitely the best surprise I could have ever gotten.

Jean-Paul sat my feet back down on the ground as he wiped all of my tears away. He leaned down and whispered in my ear, "I told you that I would come back," before placing a soft kiss upon my pale lips.

I turned around and gave my parents a big hug.

"How do you like your special gift?" My mother asked.

"I love it. This is the best Christmas present ever!" I smiled as I saw my parents exchange looks and smiles between themselves.

My parents ran off to take my bags upstairs to the guest room.

The way that Jean-Paul looked at me said it all. He was looking down upon me with a big smile that showed just how happy he was to finally see me again.

"It feels like it's been forever since I've seen you," I whispered to Jean-Paul.

"It has been forever for me," Jean-Paul responded.

I walked back into his arms and breathed in the spice of his cologne, the same scent I had grown obsessed with that reminded me of the man I love.

My parents came back downstairs, joy on their faces at seeing how happy I was.

"We're going to have a late dinner tonight. Why don't you two go out and enjoy each other for a bit? Your mother and I can get dinner prepared and ready when you get back." My father said.

I smiled at my parents before going upstairs for a moment to grab a scarf and a beanie.

When we walked outside, it was beginning to lightly snow. Tiny snowflakes of different sizes and shapes were beginning to fall down upon the earth from the white sky above.

I gazed up and looked up into the snow as I closed my eyes and made a wish.

I wished that Jean-Paul would get to stay with me forever and never have to leave me again.

Jean-Paul and I got into the car and decided on a place to go to for a little while.

"What about ice skating? Is there an ice skating rink around us locally? Perhaps one that's outside?" Jean-Paul asked as a smile danced upon his face.

"Yes, actually there is. They just put a new outdoors skating rink up here recently. Let's go," I said smiling.

When we arrived, Jean-Paul went to pay for our entry, and returned with two pairs of ice skates.

I placed the skates upon my feet and tried to stand up. I could feel my feet wobbling underneath. My heart felt like it had dropped down into the pit of my stomach. My nerves had become unsettling. This was my first time ice skating.

Jean-Paul placed his skates upon his feet and held onto my hands as he slowly pulled me away from the fence of the skating rink. After he pulled me away from the fence and he had skated backward a bit, he took hold of just one of my hands. Around and around the rink we skated. As we made our way toward the center of the rink, my confidence started to grow. My nervousness disappeared as I looked into Jean-Paul's eyes, realizing that I ould do anything as long as my hand was intertwined with his.

The snow had picked up quite heavily. But the scenery around us was just beautiful.

Jean-Paul had stopped skating for a moment and walked up to another skater. I saw him talking to the guy for a moment.

Then we skated around the rink a couple more times.

After one last trip around the rink, Jean-Paul came to a stop as I did along with him.

He gazed into my eyes.

"Blakely, from the first moment that I laid my eyes upon you, I knew you were the most beautiful woman in the entire world. I truly believe that running into you at that coffee shop was fate and we were meant to be together," he whispered as he put his hand around my waist and pulled me close to him.

"I know that our relationship has had some challenging times with me having to go back to Paris and us spending almost four months apart. But we came through that, we defied the odds, keeping our love strong even from a distance. We overcame every obstacle, and our relationship is all the better for it. I truly feel like that was a test of time. If we can get through that, we can get through anything," he said, taking my hand into his.

"The last seven months have been the most amazing months of my life...because I've spent them with you. I knew from the first moment that I saw you that I wanted to spend my life with you. I don't ever want to be without you again," he asked, getting down on one knee. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a little suede box, opening it to show a beautiful diamond ring.

"Will you marry me?" He asked.

I immediately put my hands upon my face as tears of joy started streaming down my face.

"YES!" I screamed as he gently placed the diamond ring upon my ring finger. The ring sparkled so beautifully upon the snow that was continuing to fall down from the sky. It was a silver, oval diamond ring with diamond clusters on both sides of the center jewel.

The moment that I had dreamt of happening had finally happened. I helped Jean-Paul back up to his feet as the man that he had talked to earlier had given his phone back to him.

"I'm so glad that you said yes. It would have been embarrassing if you hadn't," he chuckled.

He picked me up and spun me around in his arms. Smiles and laughter escaped our lips. The world seemed to stand still as we were spinning on that rink with our foreheads touching, the snow was falling down all around us. Our frozen lips touched softly as they began to warm to each other's touch.

He finally sat me back down and we skated around the rink one last time before turning in our shoes and going back to the car.

When we got into the car I blasted the heat as we warmed up our hands and faces. Our noses and cheeks were rosy in color.

"I'm so glad you said yes. I had hoped that you would. I can't wait until you're finally Mrs. Belleau," he whispered as he took hold of my hand and placed a gentle kiss upon the back of it.

"You've made me the happiest woman in the world," I responded, as a smile spread across my face.

We drove back to my parents' house. As we walked inside, I placed my left hand into my jacket pocket as Jean-Paul was holding onto the other hand. The aroma of honey glazed ham, mashed potatoes, macaroni salad, green beans, and rolls hit our noses.

Jean-Paul and I washed up before meeting my parents around the dinner table. Before we held hands to give thanks, I decided to go ahead and spring the news to my parents of our engagement.

"Before we say grace I just wanted to share some special news with you. Jean-Paul proposed tonight. We're engaged!" I shrieked as I raised up my left hand to show them the ring.

My mother covers her mouth and grabs my hand to get a closer look at the ring.

"We're so happy for you sweetheart. You deserve nothing but happiness," my father said, smiling as he clasps Jean-Paul's shoulder in congratulations.

"That ring is beautiful. He did well," My mother chimed in. She embraces Jean-Paul before adding "welcome to the family."

When we finished giving thanks for our dinner, we filled our plates with the wonderful food my parents had worked hard to fix, and we enjoyed the dinner in each other's company.

What had originally felt like a lonely Christmas without Jean-Paul had turned into a dream come true. Not only did he come back to the US to see me at my parents' house for Christmas, but he was able to spend the holiday with me and we were officially engaged to be married. I could not wait to make the plans to live the rest of my life with Jean-Paul.