Jim's Merry Christmas 5:

Jim Says: This week are questions that loosely center around Christmas and things that happen at Christmas.

1. Lots of people put their Christmas shopping on a credit card. I think most everyone has had at least one credit card even if they don't have one now. What is the best credit card company you have ever dealt with?

I guess I would have to say MBNA/Bank of America, and only because Dwane used to work there. Therefore, we get a really, really decent interest rate. Other than that, to me, a credit card company is a credit card company.

2. Illness is rampant this holiday season and the cold season is upon us. Tell us about the worst sickness or illness you ever had.

I remember being really sick with Mono. I was 19 I think. I was out of work for a week, and then I could only work for 1/2 days. My now-former boss wasn't happy. Dr. Fuller was really concerned about me, though. In fact, she called me on her day-off just to make sure I was ok. There was talk that I would have to be taken to the hospital to get an IV for fluids. So, my Dad took time of from work to stay with me and force me to drink. I would just get to sleep and he would wake me up again to take another drink. He made really, really good chocolate milk shakes. I remember joking with him about that when he was in the hospital the last time. The nurse had asked me to give Dad his pills. I had to wake him up to do it. I told him it was payback for when he didn't let me sleep when I had mono.

3. Christmas can be a time of secrets. Many of us know things others don't know for whatever reason. Tell us something you know that you feel most people don’t know?

I think I may have seen a question similar to this awhile ago. I wonder what I said that time. I don't think I'm really one to keep secrets. I guess I could tell the secret that I have about $20 in McDonald's gift certificates in my purse, just waiting for a time when we're broke. I've had them there for 2 years and haven't been broke enough to use them yet.

4. Some people love to just get out of town for Christmas. Tell us about an American city you have never visited that you would like to visit and why?

I think I want to go to Branson, MO. Not so much for the music, but because just outside of Branson is the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum. I want to go there before I die. I think I also want to go to Las Vegas. Not for the gambling. I just want to see what it is like. I also want to go somewhere so that I can experience a timechange. I actually want to see what jetlag is like, and Las Vegas would get me that, I would think.

5. It seems like lately that every Christmas season has to have some controversy around it due to the religion side of things. It depends on who you talk to. What constitutes a religious holiday to you as opposed to a secular one? Use examples of holidays in your answer.

I think every day can be a celebration of Christendom if you want it to be. To live every day like it's a celebration of Christ would be really something, huh? To narrow it down, I would definitely consider Christmas and Easter to be major "reglious holidays". Personally, I think the 4th of July definitely should have a Christian tone to it. (Freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM religion.) There are other holidays that are not necessarily Christian ones, but could be given Christian tones (New Year's for the new beginnings Christ gives us, Valentine's Day for Christ's love, Mother's & Father's Day, etc., etc.) I guess the only one I think of as not really being Christian would be Halloween. And that's my own personal opinion. I don't want to be judgmental toward others who like to celebrate Halloween, it's just not for me. Skeletons, monsters, ghosts, and witches just always seemed creepy to me as a kid, and now that I'm old enough to associate those things with the occult, well, it just kindda gives me the heebie jeebies.

A Christmas Bonus question...

What is your favorite part of Christmas? (if you have any)

Obviously, the celebration of Christ's birth should be the number one pick for all of us. Putting that aside, I don't think I could just pick one. I almost think I like the "anticipation" of Christmas more than the "actual" Christmas. I enjoy the shopping, the wrapping, the secrets, the excitement, the planning. Then, it's all over so quickly. So, I guess I would say that the anticipation of, and planning for, Christmas is my favorite part.