X-mas

— A stunning example of ‘a phenomenon being too large to be perceived’ impressed the author during a performance of Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ at the Ford Theater in 1983, in Washington, D.C. The phenomenon in question was the Ghost of X-masses to come who appeared on the dimly lit stage as a huge, shadowy figure, obviously on stilts, enveloped in a flowing, enormous black cape.