Holiday Book-Giving

Last December, I opened up the china box where I collect my loose change during the year. I changed the coins into some bills, then went to Target and bought a bunch of toddler books. The books were for the local police department's toys-for-kids holiday giveaway.

This year, I made my money work a little harder.

The first step was the same: turn the loose change into some bills:

Next, I visited my local, independent second-hand book store. How I love this place! It's filled with wonderful books, it's well organized, and the people who work there are friendly and knowledgeable. There's even a Shop Kitty! (The old one died and the new one, a stray found in an alley, is still camera-shy. I'll snap her photo some other day.)

This shop is clean and well lit:

Well-organized:

With cozy, comfy nooks here and there to encourage curling up with a good book or two. Or two thousand:

The owners have a sense of humor:

And a merry sense of holiday decor:

My loose change worked SO much harder for me this year! Last year, roughly the same amount of money nabbed me 8 new books at Target. This year, it got me 18 books at the second-hand book store.

I only picked books in mint condition. I found some children's classics:

I bought some for their beautiful illustrations:

I got some pre-reader books:

Some easy-reader books:

And some books that were new to me:

And then, like last year, I will take them to my local police station and donate them all. (I checked with the police first; they said second-hand books would be just fine, as long as they were in very good condition.)

It makes me ridiculously happy to give books, and to support a small, local business at the same time is the cherry on top of the sundae. The icing on the cake. The sprinkles on the cookie.

Okay, now I'm hungry.