A Gift to Remember

Good morning, Darcy!

Good morning!

You were supposed to call me last night.

I want to hear all about your date with Oliver!

And if there was anything worth reporting,

I would've called.

The new Anthony Cleaver Parks!

Your copy's already at the front register.

Merry Christmas to me!

I'd swear you just work here for the employee discount.

Nothing wrong with that.

Hey Darcy!

How's that look?

It looks great, Josh.

Except you misspelled "featuring."

Aww man.

Good morning, Terrence.

My landlady made peppermint fudge last night.

Hmm?

Peppermint fudge, your favorite.

Oh. Thank you, Darcy.

You okay?

Look what arrived in the mail yesterday.

Books, Books, Books has decided to have

their own Christmas Eve event.

What?

They stole our idea!

Well, we don't have the market cornered

on Christmas Eve events.

Yes we do!

Our Christmas Eve is a tradition.

They can't just sweep in here and--

Okay, this is an exact copy of our event!

No point in getting angry,

because there's nothing we can do about it.

We'll just concentrate on having our own

wonderful Christmas here, the way we do every year.

But don't you think we should--

I think we should root for all bookstores

to be successful these days.

Even the competition.

Okay.

What kind of a name is Books, Books, Books anyway?

That I'll grant you.

Now give me some of that peppermint fudge.

Your grandson is going to love this, Mr. Farley.

It was one of my favorites.

I remember his mother loved it when she was his age.

I'm so glad you thought of it.

See you guys on Christmas Eve?

We'd never miss it.

Perfect!

Just give me a moment and I will get Josh

to wrap this up for you.

You didn't give him a chance!

Who, Mr. Farley?

No, Oliver last night.

He doesn't read.

You sent me on a date with someone who doesn't read.

What'd I miss?

I sent Darcy out last night with a very nice guy.

But she won't see him again

because he can't quote Charles Dickens.

"I will honor Christmas in my heart,

and keep it all the year."

See? Josh can quote Dickens.

Josh works at a bookstore.

I'm willing to hold out for a guy

who gets as excited about a new book as I do.

Nobody gets as excited about a new book as you do.

Does it really take three of my employees to gift wrap a book?

Terrence, would you please tell Darcy to be more adventurous?

I think Darcy is as adventurous as she wants to be.

Thank you.

I've got my friends, I've got a job I love,

and any time I want adventure,

I have a whole store full of options.

Here you go, Mr. Farley.

Thank you, Darcy.

I'll see you at the Christmas party.

You bet.

Ciao, bella!

Check out Santa's helper!

In Naples, we call him "Babbo Natale."

Well, you do Babbo Natale proud, Luigi.

Grazie.

What's for dinner?

Manicotti, a side of sauteed spinach,

and for dessert, apricot crostata.

There's no way that's only five dollars.

For my favorite customer, always five dollars.

Thank you Luigi, you're amazing.

But if you keep doing this, you'll go broke.

And if I don't do it, you're gonna starve!

Thank you!

Okay, ciao.

Buona sera.

Good night.

Well dear, how was your day?

Busy day.

Katherine was quite disappointed to learn

that her matchmaking skills aren't all she hoped.

Oh let me guess, he wasn't a reader?

Exactly!

What am I supposed to do with that?

Oh!

It also looks like our biggest competitor is trying

to compete with Christmas Eve at Chaucer's.

Well they're foolish to try.

Chaucer's is a Philadelphia tradition.

I think we might need to step up our game this year.

Have a gingerbread man.

No thanks.

Bite the head off, it'll make you feel better.

All right well, I'd best get back to work.

I'm stringing lights on my Christmas tree.

I thought you did that already?

It needed more.

Of course it did.

Well, I've got the new Anthony Cleaver Parks book,

and a tree with just the right amount of lights.

I'm gonna curl up with my dinner,

maybe a cup of hot cider.

And a few more of those cookies.

Oh, good night!

Good night.

How did you learn to make these?

Origami Made Easy.

I picked it up forever ago,

always meant to do something with it.

Last night, I finally did.

You made all of these last night?

What can I say? I'm crafty.

I just wanna see you channel that energy

into something other than reading and crafts,

which is a fabulous lifestyle if you're 70.

Katherine!

Wait, that's not even true.

My grandma is in her 70's

and she takes ballroom dancing lessons.

I'm not doing that.

Well...

would you look at this?

We're going big!

This is beautiful!

Thank you, Terrence.

Can I borrow you two for a second?

When?

Well, we're hoping for the end of March.

Wendy and I will be doing some house hunting

in San Francisco when we're out there next week.

But what'll happen to the store?

I'm hoping we can find a general manager

we trust to keep it open, keep it going.

Chaucer's has been around for a long time

and we wouldn't want Books, Books, Books

to be the only option in the neighborhood.

So you're not selling the place?

Well, we're open to all possibilities.

But the plan is to keep it open under new management.

Of course, if any of you would like to apply,

I would welcome that conversation.

We're really gonna miss you, Terrence.

Well it breaks my heart to say goodbye,

but the pull of grandchildren is very powerful.

I understand.

I'm sorry to break this to you all a week before Christmas,

but since I'll be seeing candidates for the job,

I thought you should know.

Thanks for telling us now, Terrence.

So no long faces, okay?

Let's just try and make this the best Christmas Eve

at Chaucer's we've ever had, all right?

I can't believe Terrence is doing this.

It's like he's breaking up the family.

We'll still be a family, Darcy.

We'll just have family in San Francisco, too.

But I mean around here.

We grow the family.

You know Terrence will find someone great.

Unless he decides to sell.

You don't think he will, do you?

He can't!

Someone'll turn this building into a yoga studio so fast--

Not necessarily!

Are these little books made of matchboxes?

Yeah, and now I've got like three Ziploc baggies

full of matches, so let me know if you need any.

I'll keep that in mind.

Or worse than a yoga studio,

it'll be like the third craft microbrewery on the street.

Or worse, they'll just tear it down

and turn it into luxury condos.

Darcy, everything will be fine.

This is someone's dream job, I'm sure of it.

You!

You, Katherine!

You're senior manager, it should totally be you!

I'm done with grad school in May.

I hope to be putting my journalism degree to use.