I Declare the Holidays Officially Over

The final Holiday celebration was held yesterday at the house of my youngest nephew. We were crammed full with adults, children, and my oldest niece brought her new puppy along with her family when they arrived later in the evening. She's trying to get the puppy socialized with people and new surroundings - a young Australian Blue Heeler pup, just adorable and fluffy. 

Her puppy should grow up to look similar to this adult, standing
about knee-high and weighing in at about 35 pounds. She's got a huge
yard to run in and two kids and two adults to herd. She'll be a
very happy and spoiled dog. I'll try to upload a photo of the
actual puppy a bit later, maybe have it for you to see tomorrow. 

At full count, we were 26 people, although I could have missed a few here or there. The kids were mostly downstairs and running back and forth from the living room, I talked to my sister-in-law for quite a while, then moved to the kitchen area. I made a new meatball recipe which turned out to be really good and really quick to make. I ended up with a small container of leftovers for tonight's dinner. Perfect! 

The meatballs turned out really good. I was pleasantly
surprised. I made almost 100 meatballs and came
back with maybe 20, so it was well received. 

Everyone was in a good mood because the Minnesota Vikings had done really well and passed their first hurdle in the playoffs with an overtime win over the New Orleans Saints. Sorry, Seth! The Houston Texans won over the Buffalo Bills on Saturday, as did the Tennessee Titans over the New England Patriots, and in the final Sunday game, the Seattle Seahawks blasted the Philadelphia Eagles out of contention (sorry about that, Shirebound). Every game was a good one, so it was an entertaining weekend of football. 

We weren't expecting to win, but it was a pleasant surprise. We
actually played well, and New Orleans gave us a real run for it.
It was an overtime win in our favor. Go Vikings! 

So now we have eight - and the Vikings are one of those eight, alongside Seattle, Green Bay, and San Francisco in their division. The winner of the NFC will go on to play Baltimore, Kansas City, Tennessee or Houston from the AFC. If Mahomes can stay healthy and on his game, it's entirely possible that Kansas City will be in the Super Bowl against another team, and I'm going out on a limb here and saying that the Super Bowl will be Kansas City versus Seattle. But, there's still a lot of game left and a few more steps before the Big Game. 

I need a regular schedule once again. I have five holiday pounds to
get back off, and I want to continue working on my hip strength
and general flexibility and endurance at the gym. I declare the
holidays officially OVER!!!

Today marks the first day of a regular schedule for quite a while. It's nice to slot back into a routine once again. There's a lot of work ahead of us this year, but it's always pleasant to realize that I'm back to my usual schedule. I desperately need my Wednesday - I have some serious shopping to do at Target and at the grocer. My body will also be happy to be back to regular meals. Looking at all that I've written this morning, I guess Happy is my tone for the day. Huzzah! Have a wonderful Monday and I'll be back tomorrow.