The Slice Decoration Police Want Everything Clear By Sunday

So now, of course, the question is this:

How long should the Christmas decorations stay up?

This seems like something people could decide for themselves. But we know how indecisive some of you are. So once again, we’ll make the call.

Have them down by Sunday. And report any violations to The Slice.

Introducing The Slice’s 1996 mascots: That’s Sheena and Chinook, a couple of extremely huggable malamutes. We would like to keep them right here at Slice Headquarters, so they could lick any toddlers who happen by. But these big dogs, who belong to Mead’s Bob Rebich, need to be outdoors. So we’ll just tack up their picture instead.

Gifts in review: A Swell Paper colleague argues that a Ping Pong table is just about the best possible gift for kids. It fine-tunes hand-eye coordination. The game itself can get exciting. And it is social in a face-to-face way. “In what other game is the most frequent remark ‘Sorry,’?” our colleague asked.

“Sky Dancer,” on the other hand, can flat-out be a menace, we’re told.

Back before Christmas: A friend’s little boy got pretty anxious when he saw one of the Broadview Dairy picketers dressed up as Saint Nick and, in a moment of terror, feared that Santa had gone on strike.

Geometry quiz for married couples with both sets of parents still living: Who around here forms the biggest geographic triangle if Spokane is one point, your parents’ hometown is another point and your in-laws’ hometown is the third point?

Slice answers: Another split decision. We heard from two dozen readers after we asked if people with birthdays around Christmas felt cheated. And responses were divided just about 50-50.

Speaking of birthdays, those born on Feb. 29 will get to celebrate on the correct day this year. If you are one of them, tell us about it and we’ll print your name that day.

Warm-up question: Does anyone other than certain writers for various Seattle publications actually refer to the Lilac City as “The Can”?

Today’s Slice question: If the Inland Northwest came with a set of instructions, what would they say?

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: The Slice appears Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; fax (509) 459-5098.