Josh went back to work on Monday after a long holiday break. The holiday week was amazing. We got to spend a lot of time together and I loved every minute of it. He got sick on Monday so we haven’t seen much of each other this week. Last night was the first time we got to hang out.

We were having dinner when he mentioned that last year he was working with a realtor to find a house. He put it on hold but she is trying to get him to consider house shopping again. He’s not sure whether to wait a while or to move forward. He also mentioned the lease is up on his apartment in April and he needs to decide whether to sign for another year. I got the feeling he was trying to gauge where I’m at with our relationship.

I am totally 100% all in, but I’ve always thought that living together before marriage isn’t a good idea. It’s not because I’m a prude or anything like that, but to merge finances with someone without the legal protection of marriage seems like it would be a mess if things went south.

Josh knows how I feel, but I still suspect that he was testing the waters. Part of me was tempted to say “if you like it, then you better put a ring on it,” but we’ve only been back together for two months. Is that enough time to be together before talking about marriage?

Speaking of marriage, Molly and Tim are finally tying the knot. They have been engaged for a few years, and for one reason or another, they keep postponing. She sent out an invite for a Valentine’s Day wedding in Las Vegas. I’m a little surprised because a Vegas wedding is not what I ever would have expected from Molly, but it’s happening. Josh and I are going to book our flight and hotel this weekend.

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a promise for an awesome 12 months together in 2016. Best present over.

This was the first year I had gone to the Anderson’s Christmas Eve Party since 2011. They didn’t have them for a couple of years and then last year I had other things going on.

It was so nice to be back, and I wasn’t there as just another guest this year. I was Josh’s date. This is actually the first time I’ve gone as his date, where he picked me up and took me and then brought me home. It was nice. I didn’t have to feel like I was waiting around until he had time to give me some attention.

I forgot how much I loved those parties. It made me feel all Christmasy and happy. They always have amazing food, and I love singing Christmas carols, and Josh and I spent time under the mistletoe - out of respect for tradition of course.

I had a naughty-or-nice detector app on my phone. You “scan” people and it tells you if they have been naughty or nice. We were joking around with it because you can rig it to have the outcome of your choice and Josh got a kick out of making everyone naughty - except for me, of course, I was nice. I suggested that we should scan him. He pulled me real close to him and responded with, “What do you want me to be? Naughty or nice? Or maybe both?” He winked at me and gave me the double eyebrow lift. I asked what he was proposing. He said, “I’m proposing that we put an end to this taking-things-slow stuff.”

And so Christmas started off very nice… ;)