"Oh Lil… you made it!" I smiled at my cousin Marilou as she engulfed me in a big hug, "Of course I made it! You didn't think I was going to miss my best friends Christmas party did you?" Mari rolled her eyes at me, "I wouldn't be surprised if you had an appearance for work, Lilian. God, you'd think your job was important or something." "HA HA Mari. Real funny. So where's Nick? I haven't seen him in forever." Mari shook her head, "Nick's playing with the boys. He is such a little boy at heart. And who is this??"

Mari saw Dave… I'm actually surprised she didn't notice him before, I mean he IS huge. "Mari, I've told you all about him. This is my boyfriend, Dave." Mari got a huge smile on her face, "HI! I'm Marilou Banks, soon to be Carter. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." Dave stuck out his hand, "I'm Dave Batista. And it's great to meet you too Marilou."

Mari rolled her eyes, "Oh Please… first of all call me Mari, second give me a hug ya big lug." Mari and Dave hugged. I rolled my eyes and jokingly said, "Mari I've told you a thousand times… keep you hands OFF my man! Sorry Dave, Mari's a hugger." Mari laughed, "Most of our family are huggers. Speaking of, your mom and Mike are in the living room right now. I know she'll want to see you Lil."

After we said hi to my mom and Mike, her boyfriend, we went into the family room… where the real party was. Katie and Taylor were playing with their American Girl Dolls in the corner, they're both 8. Nick (6), Zack (10) and Cole (9) were all piled on top of Mari's Nick. And the teenage girls were sitting on the couch talking about god knows what. "Hey you guys! I haven't seen some of you in forever, how have you been?"

Katie and Taylor each ran up to me and gave me big hugs, "How are my girls?" Katie smiled, "Good. We haven't seen you in forever Lilian. Why don't you visit with your mom anymore?" Katie broke my heart when she said that, "I'm sorry Katie Bug. I've been working, remember what I told you last time?" Katie giggled, "Yea. You said if I didn't cry when you left that you'd bring your boyfriend with you. Did you bring him!?" I laughed, "Do I EVER break a promise? Of course I brought him." Then I whispered to her and Taylor, "See that big guy with all the muskels… that's him." Katie and Taylor's eyes got big, "WOW! He's HUGE!" Then after looking at him for a few more seconds Katie said, "And he's cute too!"

Dave came over to us with a big smile on his face, "Did I hear someone say I was cute??" I backed away, "It wasn't me! I think it was them!" And I pointed to Katie and Taylor. Dave just tried to keep a straight face, "You know what the punishment is when you say I'm cute??" Katie gulped, "No." Dave got a huge smile on his face, "YOU GET TICKLED!!" And he charged at Katie and Taylor and started tickling them to death.

Finally I went over to them, "Dave, let them go. I think they've suffered enough." Dave stopped and wined, "Aww man… I was having so much fun. Why'd you make me stop Lil… why?" I rolled my eyes, "Well for one reason only really… SO WE COULD TICKLE YOU!!" And the three of us started tickling Dave. Eventually we stopped and I introduced him to everyone.

A few hours later it was time to open presents. Mari and I handed out the presents and everyone sat in various room throughout the house, our family is huge… I'm talking 60+ people. After there were no more presents left under the tree I sat down to open all of my presents. Dave was sitting next to me, he had two presents. One from my 2 year old cousin Shane and one from me. After I was done I looked and noticed that Dave hadn't opened the present from me yet.

I smiled at Dave, "Why aren't you opening my present?" Dave smiled back at me, "I'm worried it'll eat me. Will you help me open it?" I rolled my eyes, "Big, bad, Batista needs some help opening a present?" Dave just nodded so I helped him open the present. After he opened the box he just stared at the gold Rolex watch I had gotten him. "Oh Lil… you didn't have to do this." I smiled and kissed Dave's cheek, "Sure I did. You deserve it. Besides… every member of Evolution needs a Rolex, or at least that's what Paul told me."

Dave looked at the watch in awe, "How much did you spend on it?" I rolled my eyes, "I'm not as stupid as I look hun. I'm not gonna fall for that and actually tell you. Do I LOOK like Jessica Simpson?" Dave smirked, "No… even better. You've got a brain to match your beauty." After a few minutes Dave spoke up, "You want your present now? I bet you're just dying to know what it is." I hit Dave's bicep. "For your information Mr. Batista… I'm not the least bit curious." Mari heard that, "Yea Right! I bet Dave got you a beautiful necklace. Am I right Dave?" Dave shook his head, "Nope. Every necklace I saw was to plain for this beauty to wear." I just looked at Dave shocked, "That's so sweet Baby. I love you."

Dave smiled, "And I love you. That's why I got you this." And with that he pulled out a ring box from his pants and got down on one knee, "Lilian, I love you so much. You're my everything. I want to be with you for the rest of my life. Baby, will you marry me?" I just looked down at Dave in shock, a tear ran down my cheek and I whispered, "Yes." Mari looked on in awe, "Lil, I didn't hear you… what'd you say?" I pulled Dave up off his knee, "Oh Baby. Yes. Of course I'll marry you." And then we kissed for the first time as an engaged couple.

Mari grabbed my hand off Dave's neck, "DAMN! What a rock!" I pulled away from Dave and looked at my ring for the first time, I didn't pay attention to anything except Dave's face while he proposed. "WOW! It is huge. It's a good thing I have a big strong man to carry around my left hand. But it's beautiful Baby… I love it." "I love you Lilian." "I love you Dave."