NASA astronaut Anne McClain and Gonzaga basketball star Anton Watson have an absolute (basket)ball exchanging gifts. While it wasn’t rocket science to find presents on their swish lists, the pair had high hopes amid astronomical prices. As two people who know how to fly - one in outer space and the other on the court - they were able to skip the holiday mayhem and beat the buzzer just in time for the holiday.
Our Previous Christmas Cards
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2021
Rick Clark, Spokane's very own Santa Claus for 2021, inspired Spokane Quaranteam, which raised thousands of dollars for many initiatives, including buying breakfast for the hungry and purchasing backpacks and essentials for the homeless. Clark poses with Spokane Humane Society puppies as newsroom employee children Alice Rogers-Brunt, then 8, and Hazel Rogers-Brunt, then 11, pose as puppy-loving elves. The puppies were on set as part of an adoption event for the society.
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2020
For 2020's Christmas photo, Colin Mulvany brought the idea, and the camera, back to earth with the theme of Spokane's gourmet food scene and a stylish home kitchen. Casting the right Santa was the first challenge. Rob Curley asked Chef Chad White, who has a full beard and one of the most innovative approaches to food on the local scene, to be Santa. Professional makeup artist Alexi Sage, Mrs. Claus, transformed White into Santa.
The set for the photo of Santa was the kitchen in the home of Celeste Shaw, owner of Chaps Diner and Bakery.
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2019
This photo idea would come from newspaper drone pilot Jesse Tinsley, after a new federal rule in 2017 allowed drone pilots to get licenses for commercial use.
Work rules required at least two climbers on the outside of the building, so while Travis Green and Geoff Morris suited up as Santa and an elf and climbed out of the Review tower, a DJI Mavic Pro quadcopter lifted off from an adjacent Spokesman-Review building, flew to the Review Tower and snapped a photo of the pair, attached with safety lines to their ladders, hanging off the 140-foot 1891 Review Tower with the city in the background.
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2018
This year, the photographers wanted to try for something nostalgic, perhaps even historic.
Photographers Liz Kishimoto and Colin Mulvany tossed around a couple of ideas, then took a scouting trip to the Patsy Clark mansion in Browne’s Addition and asked to shoot by the fireplace.
The grandchildren of Managing Editor Joe Palmquist - Genevieve, Serafina and David Palmquist - were recruited to play mischievous kids in the scene. Shawn Vestal, good-naturedly, agreed to play St. Nick a third time.
Toward the end of the photo shoot, Grandpa Joe got on the floor and encouraged the youngest of the three, David, whose attention had started to wander. The photo was done and a cute moment was captured.
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2017
The photo staff was ready to create a visually interesting Christmas card for newspaper readers. The Numerica Skate Ribbon at Riverfront Park was making its debut, so the photo staff designed a scene where Santa, again played by Shawn Vestal, would be standing in skates, surrounded by Mrs. Claus and multiple elves, all played by children of newsroom employees.
Photo editor Liz Kishimoto found costumes for Mrs. Claus, to be played by Spokesman-Review newsroom business manager Mary Beth Donavan, and elves, played by Eliza Manz, Hazel Rogers-Brunt and Cole Vestal.
The second-year effort went off without a hitch, except that we soon found out Shawn Vestal could not ice skate, or even stand still on skates. He was frozen in position, afraid to move a muscle, throughout the shoot. No one was hurt.
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2016
New editor Rob Curley asked newspaper photographers to come up with a Christmas card photo for Christmas Day’s Page 1 in 2016, and the staff was up to the challenge. Columnist Shawn Vestal played Santa. Photographer Colin Mulvany and photo editor Liz Kishimoto took Curley on a downtown tour and found a scene of city lights along the Centennial Trail in Kendall Yards.
Starting a fire next to the trail is illegal, Spokane Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer confirmed, but the photographers kept the fire small and doused it once Mulvany got the shot. With props, a generator, a tree and other equipment, it was all hands on deck with Jesse Tinsley, Dan Pelle, Molly Quinn, Kimberly Lusk and Mary Beth Donavan. The greatest difficulty was keeping 8-year-old elf, Eliza Manz, warm. It was so cold that at the end of the photo shoot, the cup of milk had frozen.
