Dear Santa

The other day, I walked into Target and got smacked upside the head.

No, not with a shopping cart, though I've had some close calls.

What I mean is that my eyeballs fell upon something so shocking and out of the ordinary - so incredibly PLEASING - that I felt like I'd been hit by a bolt of lightning.

The big array of bargain bins by the front door - normally stuffed to overflowing with cutesy notepads and pencils, kooky seasonal headbands and hats, plastic popcorn serving boxes, flimsy organizers, and inexplicably, bags of T.G.I. Friday's potato skins - was empty. 

EMPTY.

Stripped bare of every molecule of messy merchandise, this station of chaos was suddenly as neat and serene as a Zen garden.

I loved the splashy and cheerful red dividers, spaced perfectly and evenly across the rows of white shelves  Shiny metal grates at the front of the bins added sparkle and and shine. The variety of lines brought geometric joy to my heart, and the precise order and tidy charm of this space melted me on the spot. 

So you know what I did...I pulled out my camera and took a bunch of photos. 

Because I knew this simple perfection would not last long, I was sure that within a matter of minutes, these adorable compartments and cubbies would be stuffed to their brims with "Stocking Stuffers," as the nearby signs advertised. But honestly, we all know what that phrase really means - a bunch of cheap novelty items that may catch our eye for a moment, and appeal to us for their low prices. We may even grab up a handful, taking some of them home as surprises for our loved ones on Christmas morn. It's a lovely idea, and maybe some people will find some really great stuff in those bins. 

But for me, nothing inside these bins could beat the surprising, exciting, yet serenely calming emotions that zapped through me as I saw them perfectly empty. And now, all I want for Christmas is to feel that way again.