The Slice: If these seem familiar, there’s a reason

Let’s welcome a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Eve Slice Questions Past.

Here are a few that appeared on Dec. 24, in the year indicated.

1992: What does Spokane need from Santa the most? A) Clean air. B) More drivers who obey red lights. C) Fewer drivers who GO FASTER when the roads are icy. D) A return to scheduling one WSU football game in Spokane. E) Fewer residents who are shocked to discover that we have the same social ills found practically everywhere else.

1994: Could your family go without TV this weekend?

1996: What Christmas song has been stuck in your head?

1998: Fill in the blanks: “Spokane: Come for the (___), stay for the (___).”

2002: What Northwest public figure would you like to find under some mistletoe?

2005: A college football bowl game played in Coeur d’Alene would be called what?

2006: What food or beverage can you not have in your home because you are incapable of consuming it in moderation?

2009: Do you say hello to strangers more often at this time year?

2011: What snack do you plan to leave out for Santa tonight?

2012: Who is the richest man/woman in town?

2013: What’s the surest sign that someone at a Christmas Eve service hasn’t been in a church before?

2015: Who is the most entertaining person you have known when it comes to gently shaking a Christmas package and then playfully guessing (hilariously wrong) its contents?

Slice answer: Gordon Budke saw the question about requests for donations arriving in the mail addressed to people who are deceased.

“At this time of year we receive solicitations addressed to my wife’s father,” he wrote.

Gordon’s father-in-law died more than 40 years ago.

Perhaps stranger than that is the fact these requests for contributions are sent to the Budkes’ Spokane home. “He never lived with us, moving to Cheney in the 1940s and later in life wintering in Arizona.”

Warm-up question: When the husband comes from a family that opened presents on Christmas Eve and the wife comes from a family that opened gifts on Christmas morning, how does the couple decide which tradition to carry forward?

Today’s Slice question: Do you regard the words “some assembly required” as a challenge or a warning?

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. On the subject of loved ones critiquing your hand-washing technique, Dave Swett admits he has heard “Do you call that clean?” a time or two.