All You Need is Love

This week has brought the Mobley's a bit of adversity.  The week was kicked off with some unfortunate news about the account I work on going into review in 2012, and was wrapped up with a sick bulldog in the ICU being treated for pneumonia.  I'm not going to lie when I say I spent a few hours in my office cube paralyzed by stress and anxiety and close to tears.  Not only this week, but this MONTH, Mike and I have been inundated with with the pressures and stress that comes with closing out the year in the advertising industry.  That means countless dinners, multiple holiday parties, investing last minute incremental budgets before the end of the year, ASKING for last minute budgets to meet yearly goal projections, and late nights spent apart from each other to fulfill our corporate duties.  It takes a lot to take the wind out of the Mobley's sails.  Everyone knows we thrive on being festive and finding any reason or excuse to celebrate.  And who wants to feel crummy during such a happy time of year?   But this week left us deflated and exhausted.

Family dinner night out in Hoboken

So now that the after hours work obligations are pretty much starting to wind down, we were glad to end the week and enjoy the weekend and our last weekend in the city before Christmas with the people we love.  There is no better cure to the pre-Christmas blues than spending time with people who mean so much to you.  So our weekend was a barrage of love that has our hearts so full and happy that it's impossible to even imagine another bad day for the rest of the year.   And here is how it all all the love went down this weekend...

You're jealous you don't have these
Christmas sweaters

• Impromptu Date night at our quaint neighborhood restaurant - After a week my husband and I passing each other like two ships in the night, I couldn't get out of work fast enough to go spend some one on one time with my love.  Some of my favorite nights with Mike are the spontaneous date nights at our local spots spent splitting a bottle of wine and talking about everything BUT work...and that's precisely what we did.

• Opening Christmas Cards -  It is one of those things that I forget about every year.  Mike and I always remember to do ours, and we have a blast doing them, but there is something about getting a mailbox full of smiling babies and happy families instead of the usual bills, catalogs, and coupons that reminds you of just how many people you love in this world.  And it's one of the few times of the year where everyone sends real, old fashioned mail...without the use of technology.  

• Winston coming home from the hospital - it's no secret that Mike and I are a little bit crazy about that chunky slobbering beast.  And unfortunately, he wasn't just at any ol' vet clinic, he was in a scary ICU at the NY urgent care facilities on the upper west side.  As we waited for him (for what seemed like days) to be discharged we watched family upon family receive sad news or leave the hospital in tears.  It's the last thing you want to witness one week before Christmas, but it made me appreciate my little slimer that much more.  When that wiggly butt came out of the elevator in the hospital lobby, and I knelt down with my arms wide open, I wanted to cry happy tears at how glad I was to bring Winston home and continue to enjoy our little family at Christmas time.  I've never seen this desperately excited greeting from my dog, and my coat was covered with white fur, and Mike and I had slobber all over our jeans.  But my heart was swollen with love on that car ride back to our apartment, and I'm thrilled at how much better he is feeling. 

A fancy cocktail and One if by Land, Two if by Sea (and a photo bomber)

• Christmas with the Bucks - as you know, Mike has acquired a variety of Christmas attire over his 33 years of life.  And as my first Christmas as Mrs. Mobley, I feel a Mrs. Claus-esque obligation to stock my wardrobe with equally festive options as well.  And if there is anyone who can match the festivity of the Mobleys at Christmas (or in life)...it would be Mr. & Mrs. Charles Buck.  So naturally we went to their house to spread Christmas cheer and wear new festive attire.  Their apartment was beautifully decorated and the refreshments were delightful, and it reminded us of how thankful we are to have such wonderful friends in our lives all year.  When we moved here in 2010, Mike consoled me by telling me that we would have wonderful friends already built in when we moved to NY.  And outside of our amazing families I love our friends...I just do....all of them.

• A Brunch in Connecticut -  Since Winston was still on the mend, I left Mike behind in the city and headed out on the Metro North to Connecticut to have Christmas brunch with the DuPont/Russo family and see them all one last time before Christmas.  I think I spent a total of 5 hours actually in Connecticut (after the nightmare commute), but it makes me happy to have my grandmother and other close family only a train ride away so that I can see them whenever I want.  Since Thanksgiving, I've seen at least some of the DuPont/Russo family every weekend, for 4 weekends straight!  And I can't wait to see them again!

• Coming Home - my husband was home with a sick puppy all day, but when I walked back in that door of our apartment after 4+ hours on a train today....the apartment was immaculate and no lights were on except the sparkling lights from the Christmas decorations.  The house smelled of pine and candles were burning in every room.  And on the couch cuddling together were the two loves of my life....waiting for me to join.  Ironically enough, we ended the night with home made soup that my grandmother sent home with me, and we watched Love Actually....an impossibly happy movie that tied perfectly with the theme of my entry this week.  

This time of year reminds us that no matter how terrible we think it is,and no matter how stressful the holidays can get, we always have the love from our families and wonderful friends to make us complete.  It's a love that erases all the negativity and makes our hearts full.  And at the end of that day...isn't that love all that really matters?