It Really Was the Best Christmas Ever

Christmas DayWhat a delight to have everyone together at the Taggart home to celebrate the Birth of the Savior together as a family. There is no coincidence that we think of Elizabeth, mother of the forerunner of the Lord, and Joseph, Jesus' adoptive Father from the lineage of the Kings of Judah-- as well as Gloria in Excelsis as we gather to remember the Christmas Story. We wonder if we (and you) may have been a part of that collection of Heavenly Host who sang together in the Shepherd fields.

We had a wonderful Holiday together. It was especially fun to watch Ethan, Cheyenne and little Gavin enjoy the wonder of it all. Christmas isn't about the gifts. . . but they are fun for the kids (and the grownups too actually).

One of the highlights for Joseph was the new Kindle reader. His bigggest hassle with reading a book is turning pages. We have to spiral bind each of his text books, but it is still difficult. Because of that he hasn't done much recreational reading. Now he can turn the pages at the touch of a button. He finished Twilight (novel) in just a couple of days after Christmas. Maybe if he can get his law shool text books in this digital format it won't be such a challenge.

Happy Birthday Joseph

We celebrated Joseph's birthday on the 30th. Besides the dozens of cards, emails, messages on FaceBook and phone calls (including from Brazil), we really enjoyed the visit from Joseph's cousins Troy Pugmire and Heidi Jensen and their families. Their parents Toni (Tim's sister) and Jaren Pugmire stopped by the day before for a couple of hours. In the photo are Jordan and Heidi Jensen (their little girl is in the middle below) and Troy and Brooke Pugmire (their's are the boys). You can't pick your relatives. . . that's why it's so great when they are so fun you'd pick them as friends anyway.

Christmas Eve

The Very Best Christmas Ever

Tim and Gloria have been working on their Christmas gift for friends at work etc for a couple of months. They designed it on a napkin over dinner in October. Inside the custom computer cut matt board silhouette of the Savior is a quote from President Monson. Click on the photo to enlarge it.

Christmas Celebrations Begin

On Sunday Gloria's sister Diane hosted a Christmas dinner. It was a wonderful time together and a great beginning to this special week.

Holiday Hobbling by Handicapped Hubby

On Monday night, Tim was taking a load of laundry downstairs and missed the last step. HE BROKE HIS LEG. The 'distal displaced fibular fracture' will heal eventually. . . He's afraid the stupidity is permanent. Oh well he is off work for a couple of weeks anyway. . . It's not every Joseph Smith's Birthday (the 23rd) that you can celebrate relaxing with your feet up. Joseph asked how many times his dad had broken a bone. He learned that this is the FIRST and hopefully the last.

Perigee and the Crest of the Wave

Joseph's Last Day as an Undergrad
Friday was Joseph's last time on Campus as an undergraduate student. He turned in his last paper which completed the final piece of his two bachelor degrees in Political Science and also International Studies at the University of Utah. He starts his internship (see last week's blog) next week. He and Tim had a stroll through the campus during the evening light and savored the occasion.

Ready for Christmas
Gloria and Tim have had busy hands finishing up preparations for Christmas. The Taggart Christmas tree is always a work of art thanks to Gloria's ability to design and decorate. The last crafts of Christmas are almost finished, ready for delivery to friends and co-workers. Tim spoke in 4th Ward's sacrament meeting today on Christmas. With the Christmas music and the fresh snow it is starting to feel like the Holidays.

Full Moon Rising
Friday the moon was the closest it has been to the Earth in 15 years. (see Sky Show Dec. 12: Biggest, Brightest Full Moon of 2008) Because it is at it's perigee (closest point) it appears 15% bigger and 30% brighter than at the furthest point (in 3 weeks). Tim took his small digital camera, rested it on the mailbox and took the photo on the right. When the Moon is so close to the Earth is causes an unusual high tide. We don't notice such things here in the desert. . . but in the UK we have the unusual phenomenon of the. . .

Severn Bore
We learned when we were in the UK that when the tide is unusually high and the other factors align, the tide moving up the Bristol channel into the Severn River creates an amazing phenomenon called the Severn Bore.

The tidal wave is large enough to surf. It is incredible to see. We couldn't help thinking about it with the moon being so close. You can see more cool photos at http://www.mhweather.co.uk/mhwphp/mhwphp/gallery.php?category_path=TidalBores&start=0 and read about the bore here: http://www.soglos.com/sport-outdoor/28010/The-Severn-Bore-2008. We knew you wanted to know about this. You can amaze all your friends and be the Bore of the party this Holiday season.

Ethan's Birthday
Tonight Elizabeth and the kids came while Denny is off to do some training. Although they had the real party last week, we celebrated Ethan's 5th birthday. He loved the soccor ball from Uncle Joe and we had a fun time together.

Transitions

We celebrate the life of Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin
Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, the oldest living apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died Monday night, at age 91. Elder Wirthlin was a great and good man and a friend of Tim since they worked together in Curriculum in the 1980's. What a great example. If you haven't seen the simple tribute AV put up on Youtube it is embedded here:

Joseph's Internship
This week Joseph received word that he was selected to serve an internship next semester with the Utah Disability Law Center, serving on the Legislative Advocacy Team at the State Capitol. He will identify and track legislative bills impacting the disabilities community, maintain the bill tracking web site, advocate and work directly with state senators and congressmen and make weekly presentations to the UDLC executive board. It's a great opportunity.

Applications to Law School
Joseph sent out his applications to over twenty law schools this week. It will be interesting and exciting to see the responses. He also made application for a Masters Degree in Public Administration at the University of Utah. If everything works according to his well laid plan, he will do this degree at the same time he does his law degree .

Ward Christmas Party

We enjoyed our ward Christmas party on Friday night. There was good company, good food and a great program presented by The Latter-day Ambassadors, a local singing group. They were terrific and everyone enjoyed the Spirit of the season.

Welcome Kaye Bay from Manila
Late Friday night Tim picked up Kaye Bay, our AV producer from the Phiippines at the Salt Lake Airport. She will be here for two weeks receiving training. She is new in the assignment and an excellent talent. We hope she doesn't freeze!