The Slice: Not so chilly scene of winter

A few years ago, my wife learned that a community college library in Yakima was getting rid of its back issues of The New Yorker magazine.

Someone over there, a librarian or administrator, had put out a call online. Did anyone want the magazines? If not, they were bound for a dumpster.

My wife raised her hand. She stipulated that if someone wanted the entire collection intact, that person or institution should have first dibs. But no one did.

So we drove over and collected hundreds of magazines. Well, mostly just the covers.

Maybe it was thousands. I don’t think we’ve ever actually counted.

If you are familiar with New Yorker covers, you know they are works of art. Sometimes they feature topical themes, but often they are simply reflections of the season. Some have a deft cartoonist’s eye for humor or social commentary.

Choosing favorites for rotating display has been a daunting task, undertaken several times.

But one that always makes it to the short stack of finalists is the cover from the Dec. 19, 1959, issue.

It is a Christmas scene. It’s night and snow is falling on shoppers and parked cars.

Some of the shoppers carry gift-wrapped packages. Inside a building in the background, you can see a crowd in the midst of seasonal hustle bustle.

Falling snow is illuminated by car headlights. Buildings give off an inviting glow.

And up in the night sky, stars seem to mingle with the snowflakes.

The hat wearing people carrying presents are a little hunched over as if bracing against the cold. But this is no chilly scene of winter.

That’s because it takes no great leap of imagination to think the shoppers are headed somewhere warm and welcoming. They are headed home.

Today’s tale of an infested Christmas tree: This comes to us from the Nystrom family of Liberty Lake.

“Oh, yes! We will never forget.”

The family had shopped for the perfect Christmas tree, and found it. Or so they thought.

“Our two little girls were so excited. We got it in the tree stand placed in front of our bay windows, where the sun was brightly shining.

“Shortly thereafter we noticed a huge hatch of baby spiders crawling thoughout the tree. Out the door it went and off to buy another tree.”

Today’s Slice question: At holiday parties, do you regard other people’s inebriation as a spectator event?

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Ever had to almost fight someone to keep him/her from driving home?