The Slice: Giving birth to a new holiday flower

Chewelah’s Debbie Eslick overheard a little girl’s reaction to a display of poinsettias in Kettle Falls.

“Oh, my,” said the child. “Look at all those beautiful placentas.”

•You’d be surprised: At how often Spokane gets mentioned on the CBC’s “Hockey Night in Canada.”

•Looking ahead: The Sci-Fi channel will once again present a New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day “Twilight Zone” marathon.

•Just wondering: What do you think of the L.L. Bean commercial featuring that Fountains of Wayne song?

•Just wondering 2: How many tons of pet food have you purchased over the years?

•Many, many years from now: People who are children today will talk about how the Christmas season used to be snowy and cold.

•Aisle not be back: Several readers said they do, in fact, go out of their way to avoid certain grocery cashiers.

Natalie Gibb described a certain checker as “just plain mean and nasty.”

Others said they simply have bad chemistry with certain store employees. It happens.

But more respondents said there are cashiers they make a point of seeking out, even if it means getting in a line.

“Sheila is fast and competent and greets me like an old friend,” wrote a reader named Ruth. “She makes my day.”

Another reader, a guy, described one of his favorite checkers as a “silent, seething tiger with crystal clear blue eyes.”

•Close cover before striking: I was looking at a Web site that has several nostalgia themes and, under the heading “Matchbook Museum,” saw a vintage stylized image of The Ridpath.

I spent my first night in Spokane there. I still can’t get used to the idea of it being closed.

•Spokanizing the gift: If you are giving a child a model train set that includes passenger cars, feel free to tell the kid that he or she can play with it only at 1 a.m.

•Survey says: Responding Slice readers prefer CNN’s Campbell Brown to CBS’ Katie Couric.

Let’s do a local throw-down this time: Dave Erickson or Randy Shaw?

•This kid knows the drill: Judy McKeehan’s young granddaughter, Mary Kate, must have really internalized her preschool’s clean-up protocols. After her family decorated a Christmas tree, the little girl thought it was then time to take all the ornaments off it and put them away.

•Warm-up question: Does the lead-up to the February TV conversion sort of remind you of the pre-Y2K hysteria?

•Today’s Slice question: Is there someone in your family who seems to have a magic touch when it comes to starting cars on frigid mornings?