The Slice George Costanza Would Offer 1997’S Top 10 Public Restrooms

There’s no escaping year-in-review Top 10 lists at this time of year.

So why not get in on the action? Make up your own. Then send it to The Slice.

The category? That’s up to you.

Always look for that “Made at the North Pole” label: “Many Christmases ago, our daughter Lydia gave me one of the best indirect compliments I’ll ever get,” wrote Keith Newell.

“I had worked many long evenings constructing a wooden dollhouse from a kit, barely getting it built and painted in time for Christmas morning. She was delighted with it.”

Later, he overheard her talking to a friend. “I KNOW there’s a Santa Claus,” she said. “Because my daddy could never have built such a nice dollhouse.”

Piping up: Something we said reminded Spokane’s Thomas E. Russell of a scene in a Chicago church in 1949.

“A woman in the church choir was belting out a tune like an operatic soprano. I saw a small boy about three or four rows ahead stand up in his seat and face backward. His eyes suddenly twinkled and he let out a high note along with the soprano, much to the delight of all those around him. His mother quickly grabbed him and pulled him down but I could see it was all she could do to keep from laughing.”

One Spokane woman wonders: “I don’t want my boyfriend to know how incredibly bored I am, but do other women feel that it’s some rite of passage in a relationship to listen to the stories of every car owned or fish caught by their boyfriend?”

And the winners are…: Sally King and Cathy Comfort, two friends who conduct an annual Christmas Lights Survey, passed along the addresses of their ‘97 honorees.

First place: 4104 S. Conklin

Honorable mention: 307 W. 17th

Best snowman: 3310 W. Heroy

The new theology: “On Sunday, my 5-year-old Spencer was telling me he didn’t want to go church because he already knew everything about God,” wrote Barbie Myklebust.

She asked him to tell her what he knew. So he did. “God is first,” Spencer explained. “Jesus is second. Terminator is third and that’s the trinerty.”

A pep talk from Spokane’s guardian angel: One reader said it would consist of “Live your lives, do your best, be kind and all will be well. P.S. Widen the streets.”

Today’s Slice question: Do you think Canadian money and stamps are neater looking than the U.S. equivalents?

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: The Slice appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; fax (509) 459-5098. We’d like to hear your assessment of this area’s cash-machine etiquette.