Charlie’s gang gets a special Slice salute

Today The Slice salutes the blockhead and his friends. In recognition of next week’s 40th anniversary airing of “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” let’s count down this column’s favorite/least favorite “Peanuts” characters.

15. Peppermint Patty: Drama queens get old. 14. Marcie: No, sir. 13. Violet/Patty/Shermy: There was no there there. 12. Rerun: How many of us had bailed by the time he showed up? 11. Spike: Sort of sad. 10. Franklin: Seemed like an OK kid. 9. Frieda: The naturally curly hair thing was sort of funny the first hundred times.

8. Pig Pen: The dust cloud was sort of funny the first hundred times. 7. Schroeder: Beethoven’s birthday is coming up. 6. Snoopy: Overexposure was his only drawback. 5. Sally: She was just cynical enough. 4. Woodstock: Who couldn’t like a bird that played hockey? 3. Lucy: Took no prisoners. 2. Linus: Insecure but smart and sensitive — an appealing combination. 1. Charlie Brown: Good grief, who did you expect to be No. 1?

“Three things you learn about a couple when observing them trying to decide what movie to rent:

1. Whether the man always has to have his way.

2. Whether the woman is even remotely realistic about just who it is she’s hooked up with.

3. Does either understand the fundamentals of salesmanship?

“Re: the Northwest being farther north than the Northeast: “When my brother-in-law and his wife moved from Middletown, R.I., north to Eastport, Maine, my father-in-law said that they would have way worse winters now that they lived so much farther north,” wrote Carrie Webbenhurst. “We had to remind him that we still live farther north than they do.”

Jerry Hilton noted that geo-confusion goes both ways. He knows people in this part of the country who have a difficult time accepting the fact that his wife’s relatives in southern Ontario are farther south than we are.

But Steve Trapp suggested that when it comes to Northeasterners’ perspectives on the Northwest, our relative latitudes is far from the biggest area of misunderstanding. “They are surprised to learn that we too have cars and TVs and computers way out on the frontier,” he said.

“Reader challenge: Combine a word or two from the title of a past or present TV show with a word or phrase from the title or lyrics of a popular Christmas song to produce the name of an unlikely prime-time holiday special.

For example, “CSI: Little Town of Bethlehem” or “A Holly Jolly West Wing.”

OK, your turn.

“Today’s Slice question (to be read aloud to a child): Which are NOT names of Santa’s varsity reindeer?

A) Dasher. B) Dancer. C) Cupid. D) Minx. E) Comet. F) Stumpy. G) Donner. H) Snarky. I) Prancer. J) Vixen. K) Blitzen. L) Madison.

That’s right — D, F, H and L don’t belong.