I was pleased to find this slightly-battered softcover at the Used Book Superstore during their store-closing sale.

Spier is known for his intricately-illustrated children's books; this one, I think, is his best. There are no captions here, just a series of illustrations of a typical small-town Christmas in the US, from the commercial [Santa at the shopping center, street decorations] to the religious, and covering the preparations, the holiday itself, and the aftermath [the "Returns" counter, discarded piles of gift wrap and Christmas trees]. The details are extraordinary; every time I look at it I find something new, whether it's a cat hiding among the piles of presents or the look on the faces of the families gathered around the dinner table. Some of the scenes are heart-warming, some rather sad; many of them might have been taken intact from my own family's holiday pictures...

I left this book on a bench in the little square at the junction of Mass Ave. and Putnam, at about 11:30 or so; hope the finder enjoys it!

*** Released for the 2012 Christmas/Holiday challenge. ***