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The Slice: Gesture scores a 10 with judges
Sometimes it really is the thought that counts. Becky Ellenz has a 4-year-old daughter named Kelsey who regularly attends gymnastics classes.
One of Kelsey’s little friends at these classes is Jewish. And recently, at a moment when the kids and parents were exchanging Christmas felicitations, Ellenz whispered in her daughter’s ear that it would be nice if she wished her friend a happy Hanukkah.
Kelsey thought that was an excellent idea. So she went to find her friend.
Later, Kelsey was beaming, still feeling good about her foray into the wonderful world of multicultural outreach.
So she told her dad about wishing her friend “Happy Harmonica.”
OK, she had a few letters and syllables not in the right place. But her heart was, and that’s what matters.
“Reader challenge response: “CSI Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.” — William Madden
“Dunces of the Year Award: I have to assume people have wised them up already. But earlier this week, several Spokane broadcasters (both radio and TV) were actually rooting for the warming trend. JUST DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS. These were quite possibly the dumbest, most tone-deaf seasonal utterances I have heard in ages.
“Just wondering: Speculating that customers will make it to their appointments at beauty salons no matter how horrible the road conditions, a reader in St. Maries wondered what other activities/enterprises are apt to proceed normally regardless of the weather.
“Slice answer: Which TV commercial makes people shout “Mute!”?
“All of them,” said Marc Natoni of Sandpoint.
“Awarding letter grades to Guardian Angels for 2005 job performance: Pullman’s Sue Swanson would give the one assigned to her 17-year-old daughter an A+.
Last summer, that girl and the boy behind the wheel walked away from a car-crumpling one-vehicle accident that first responders initially assumed had produced fatalities.
“Sometimes the classics will not be denied: So there’s this little boy named Dylan, who has a grandfather with a serious thing about Harley-Davidson motorcycles. This enthusiasm has spread to Dylan. On the way to see a store Santa, the boy insisted he was going to ask the big man for a Harley.
But when he actually came face to face with Mr. Claus, Dylan requested “A train.”
“Personal note to my friends at the Herzog family center: Thanks for leaving that card on the fence for me. And thanks for placing a few balls outside the fence, for me to throw back.
In answer to the children’s question, a Martian is someone who’s hoping every one of the kids grows up healthy and happy.
“Today’s Slice question: A college football bowl game played in Coeur d’Alene would be called what?