I’ve never known Matt to be disappointed when presented with the chance of a roast dinner, particularly not when it’s a second Christmas dinner! So when my parents announced we were going to have our family Christmas on Christmas eve I was surprised he wasn’t jumping for joy! I guess I was even a little suspicious. He explained he was a little disappointed because he’d wanted for us to spend Christmas eve together as our own little Christmas, maybe go somewhere for the day. He didn’t seem that keen on doing it another day instead, but I told him we could spend some time together before going to mum and dads for the evening and he seemed to cheer up a bit. I didn’t give it any more thought.
We’d been having a really nice week together and on Christmas eve he came in with me to the studio. He’d made me promise we’d leave as soon as we possibly could, and looking back I guess he did seem a little on edge but he was covering his tracks well! I put it down to annoyance at being at work on Christmas eve when I know he’d wanted to do something, but there was nothing I could do about that, my customer was desperate for their album and I was desperate to share! They arrived, we had a nice chat and the second they were out the door Matt was eager to get going! He was talking about going for a walk but I hadn’t told him that we also had to drop something off in Seamer for Liam and when I did he didn’t seem too happy about it!
We set off for Seamer, fortunately the snow had melted quite a bit overnight so the roads weren’t too bad. We pulled in to drop off the parcel but when I returned, ready to set off home, Matt started driving the wrong way. We pulled up outside The Copper Horse, one of our favourite places to eat and somewhere we’ve shared many happy memories together. I thought to myself that this was definitely more like Matt, wanting to go for a huge lunch despite Christmas dinner approaching! However I took little convincing and we went in for some lunch. Taking a cosy seat by the fireside and admiring the gorgeous decorations as we tucked into our amazing meals it felt like a truly 
perfect Christmas. We talked about anything and everything and as we smiled and laughed the photographer in me came to the forefront as I took out my iphone and started taking pictures of our lovely meal together. Little did I know how significant those photographs were about to become!
As we finished our desserts something magical happened. Looking out through the frosted sash window snow had become to fall softly to the earth, seemingly coating all around it in an instant. Around us the restaurant had emptied, even the staff had sneaked out for a mince pie and sneaky glass of mulled wine. We were alone in a perfect moment surrounded by a winter wonderland and Matt began to speak. He told me how much he loved me, how much he’d always loved me. He told me I was his best friend and he never wanted to be apart from me. As he spoke he looked deeply into my eyes and I knew he meant every word. He moved softly from his chair, got down on one knee, held aloft a sparkling diamond snowdrop and asked me
“Dominique Shaw, will you marry me?”
It may not have been the way he planned it, but I wouldn’t have changed it for the world. To me It was just perfect; my Christmas miracle.
After a stunned silence I eventually spluttered out “of course I’ll marry you!” and after our complimentary champagne I wanted to run into the street and shout it to the world! Matt insisted we tell our families first, so I had to tame my itching 
twitter finger and set off home to share the news! Though sharing the news proved not to be as easy as we’d thought!
Stay tuned for the story of our first Christmas as an engaged couple, and Matt’s reaction as the plans started somewhat earlier than he expected!!
