Need a little Christmas
The crackling sounds of Dean Martin's Silver Bells signals the start of another hauntological loop of Christmas. Five a.m. at the Seatac airport two days before Christmas and I take the caffeinated road more traveled after an hour of getting through security. An ever-growing queue of people form a bottleneck at the entrance to a row of empty self check-in kiosks. Bleary-eyed families side-step dog shit as frazzled airport employees scramble to place caution signs around the trail of poop while racing down the terminal to catch the dog owner. A cheerfully commanding Alaska Airlines employee who is ON this morning jumps in to direct the flow of traffic. I spend $34 on a breakfast burrito and a sandwich to go. The annual Christmas pilgrimage has begun. Christmas has an unstoppable momentum like a carousel that, once activated, must complete its cycle. Come November 29th, tree-topped cars adorned with antlers and red noses jam the highway, everything from candy canes to Tostitos is dy...