Shellharbour Mayor Chris Homer proposed to long-time partner Vikki Muller on Boxing Day. Photo: Supplied.
After a year marked by personal challenges, Shellharbour City Council Mayor Chris Homer ended 2025 with a moment of heartfelt joy, proposing to his long-time partner Vikki Muller in a surprise Boxing Day engagement surrounded by family.
The intimate proposal took place at the Mullers’ family home in Wildes Meadow, nestled in the Southern Highlands.
The moment, as described by Vikki, was both unexpected and deeply personal.
“The proposal was low-key and really nice,” Vikki said.
“Chris knows how much my family means to me. It was really special that he did it in front of my family, because it shows he loves my family as much as I love them.
“I think, for me, that was what was really special.”
Cr Homer hid the engagement ring among Christmas gifts under the family tree as if it was simply another gift – but with an interesting choice of packaging.
“My family always tease me, because I have this thing about making sure all the presents look good under the Christmas tree,” Vikki said.
“Whereas they have this thing about putting presents in ugly wrapping, so Chris put his present in an Aldi bag – so ‘good, different’,” she said, laughing.
Cr Homer said choosing to conceal the ring inside a stapled Aldi bag was deliberate, to ensure the proposal was a surprise to everyone.
“Because that didn’t fit the presentation of the Muller family’s Christmas tree, it got dumped and hidden right at the back of the tree,” he said.
Vikki said she picked up the present and scoffed, “What is this?”
Cr Homer said Christmas with Vikki’s family involved one family member distributing the gifts to those huddled in the lounge room.
“It finally came to the very unattractive Aldi bag,” he said.
“Inside the stapled up Aldi bag was the ring and a few cards.”
He said the cards included photos, with the first being when they first got together, the next was of them with their pet goat Roxy and a shot of him in his mayoral robes with Vikki dressed up for a black tie event.
“Then the fourth card was a card which opened up with the question, ‘Shall we?’.
“That’s when there was a ring presented in front of Vikki’s family, her mum and dad.”
The ring was hidden in an Aldi bag under the Christmas tree. Photo: Supplied.
Vikki interrupts. “No-one was sure if they needed to film or not, because nobody believed it,” she said, laughing.
“So we only got half of it on video.”
When joking that many wouldn’t have picked Cr Homer to be so romantic, Vikki laughed, saying “none of us did either”, before he responded with “Chris Homer didn’t pick himself to be that romantic”.
The couple, together for 12 years, shared that the timing felt right.
“I think it was a very nice surprise for me because we’ve had some hard years,” Vikki said.
“It was nice to have a good news story for us and, on a personal level, it meant a lot more.”
Vikki said the past few years had included family losses, Cr Homer’s battle with prostate cancer and a long IVF journey that still continues but has been marred by challenges.
She said their path to starting a family had been both “physically and mentally demanding”.
“We’re on our 18th round of IVF and that’s for stimulation – that’s not to pull out 20 eggs – and I have to do it every month,” she said.
“It’s very taxing trying to run a fitness business and everything else, along with Chris’ work life – it’s been a tough few years.
“It finished off what has been an ordinary year in our personal lives on a positive.”
Cr Homer said the timing of the proposal was also prompted by a visit to Parliament House in Sydney for a meeting within his role as the mayor.
“There are times when, to kill time, I’ll walk around Martin Place to all the big brand stores,” he said.
“I happened to walk into the Bvlgari store and I saw a ring there that I thought was extraordinary.
“It had a blue topaz stone, which is one of the centerpieces of the ring, and it just blew me away.
“It fitted everything – the ocean, Vikki’s eyes are blue and the ring was like the nexus of, oh right, this is my thoughts, the ring, and it’s all happening.
“It just kind of took on a bit of a life of its own.”
As for wedding plans, the newly engaged couple said family remained the priority for now and any celebration would be organised at its own pace but it wouldn’t be a long engagement.
“I think we’ll just enjoy being engaged. I’m happy with the word ‘fiancée’ and not ‘wife’ just at this moment,” she said, laughing.
“I feel very loved and lucky right now. I hope it’s the start of a year of wins.”
