The most busy weekend of my life finally came to a close.  We are getting so close to Christmas and we have been so much more involved this year than ever before.  For an anxious, introvert such as myself this is a whole lot of fun afterwards, but pretty intense before. 
Friday night was the anticipated "Tower Lighting" celebration.  The Freedom Tower was the water tower on base during World War II.  Every year they decorate it with thousands of lights and a big festival is held for the first lighting.  I worked for an hour at the chapel booth handing out glow sticks, candy canes and service schedules.  Dan and the Children got some free hot chocolate and cookies, went in the bounce house and chatted with friends they ran into.  So many from the base come.  The Air Force band played and Chaplain Clark prayed before the lighting.  While I had planned to feed the kids a little before and a little after to avoid buying food, we caved and got hot dogs.  I am so glad.  There would have been some massive meltdowns and that yam before we came was just not enough to hold them over.  Next year I decided I'd make pulled pork on buns and wrap them in foil to bring along.  Or we will just go later and I won't work the booth. 
Saturday I took the 3 girls to the Joint Base Protestant Woman's Christmas party.  It was for women of the chapel and the bible studies run through the chapel and friends were invited and encouraged.  We had a nice brunch and one of the older women with grown children talked to us about Christmas and wanting Jesus more than anything.  My favorite quote was when she was beginning saying she had read something in a devotional.  She asked who did devotions each morning and said, "Sometimes my mind don't tell me the right things in the morning so I have to listen to what somebody else says".  My goodness, my mind pretty much NEVER tells me the right things in the morning.  What wisdom. 
After the devotion and brunch we packed cookies we had made and brought into small bags to be handed out the following night when we caroled to airman and sailors on weekend duty.  This was fun and the girls were thrilled to make those baggies of cookies.  Even Evangeline came home and told her Daddy that "I helped put cookies in bags for Jesus's birthday!"  I also met a couple of new ladies who seem really nice.  There is really nothing like beautiful Christian fellowship with other women.  I miss my bible study so much. 
We walked home from the chapel and the big girls changed into their ballet clothes.  We drove to the chapel (a different one) and rehearsed for the family Christmas service that's on the 20th.  The girls costumes are too big and Sheila is hoping to get smaller ones.  That will help so we won't have to pin them in the back.  However, bigger means they can wear them for a few more years.  Seriously, Thea's skirt is a size 12/14...and she wears a 7/8 now. 
Thea and Mareea were so good and we grabbed a quick lunch at Mcdonalds (ugh...why do I do this! I feel so bad afterwards!) and headed over to meet Dan and the boys at the base theater.  We are so blessed to have a theater on base that runs movies about a month after they open for about 50% of what we would pay out in town.  We had been waiting patiently for the Peanuts movie and with our crazy weekend this was the one time we could fit it in.  It was so funny.  Gideon and Ashton were cracking up through the whole thing and they both have the cutest laughs.  We have been talking about the funny parts for a couple of days now.  I may even take them one more time before it isn't shown anymore if it works out. 
Sunday morning was rough as I had had a stomach battle the night before.  I had to halt my Christmas wrapping and go to bed.  It was terrible.  I rallied in the morning to do the weekly shopping.  It was a big trip, enough to last us two weeks except for produce, and I walked quite slowly through the commissary.  Thank goodness I had gotten there right at opening and could take my time getting through.  I spent more than I would like, but what else is new. 
At Church we lit the advent candle as a family.  I was so nervous to be up there, but I just looked at Evangeline the whole time and Dan did the reading a prayer while Q lit the candle.  I was honored to be asked, but was nervous.  I wish mom had been there to take a picture of us. 
After church we had a Christmas dinner potluck.  Thank the Lord for not having to worry about lunch!  We headed home and rested for a bit before going over to AWANA for the last club of the semester.  It was the store!  The kids were so excited and I was so proud of them.  They worked really hard and were all first or second in their grade for points.  Ashton and Landon came home with nerf guns.  Big fun here at the Bond house.  Thea chose a big package of 20 hot wheels cars lol.  What an awesome little girl. 
Dan took the boys home after AWANA and ate a free Papa Johns Pizza, but the girls and I stayed to have pizza and salad and go caroling.  The chapel had gotten a trolley for us to ride on to each location and that made it especially exciting for the girls.  We visited the galley to carol to the workers and single airman eating dinner, the air terminal, a hanger for aircraft maintenance and the homes of a couple high ranking chaplains.  I loved caroling for the young guys and was so happy the girls got to hand out the cookies we had made to them.  I was not prepared for them all to pull out their phones and take pictures and videos and post in on social media.  Yikes!  But they smiled and waved as we left and I pray they were blessed by our singing and little gifts.  We sang real, live traditional CHRISTIAN Christmas carols that sounded beautiful even though we were a group of people that had never sung together before.  Have you ever sung with a group in an air terminal?  I highly suggest it.  The acoustics are perfectly amazing. 
That's the weekend.  Wow.  Lots of excitement and fun and very, very busy.