President Barack Obama took daughters Sasha and Malia out for some early Christmas shopping over the weekend, popping into One More Page Books in Arlington, Va., to pick up some page-turners to pack under other people’s trees.

The quick trip across the river, which coincided with “Small Business Saturday,” a promotion designed to prop up mom-and-pop retailers, touched off all kinds of excited tweets and Facebook posts by locals enthralled by “44’s” unexpected visit:

“We talked about how much he enjoyed bookstores and about the one they go to in Chicago,” McGervey told HOH of her chat with POTUS, adding, “Unless someone specifically brings up their work, we generally chat with them about books.”

Per the White House, the gift-giver-in-chief selected about a dozen children’s books to be distributed amongst family this holiday season.