Priscilla Richardson

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If you're a Scrooge or a Grinch, you'd better stay away from Buchanan this weekend. The town is packing a bunch of Christmas excitement into these three days.

Starting tonight, you can savor the last of the late night Fridays as you shop in Buchanan's downtown until 9 p.m. Fine art, antiques and many gift ideas will tempt you from many stores.

Not enough? Start at 10 a.m. Saturday at the BB&T parking lot. You'll be able to purchase handmade crafts, wreaths, fresh greens, baked goods and anything else local churches and civic organizations can think up. Carriage rides will be available until 2 p.m. But the whole shebang closes at 3, because the parade starts at 4.

Boom boom and wail wail wail. Here come the James River High School Marching Band and a bagpipe group called War Pipe. You'll see Shriners, floats, antique autos, clowns and horses -- something for everyone. From the south end of town the parade goes to the James River bridge, then turns onto Lowe Street. Ho, ho, Santa will close the parade. But if you want to remember the "reason for the season," the Buchanan Theatre will show "The Nativity" at 7:30 p.m. for $5 for adults, $3 for children.

Are you into Christmas yet? There's more. Sunday brings the Holiday Home Tour showing six of the town's homes from 1 until 5 p.m. If you think you don't have any ideas on how to decorate your home, this tour will more than help you. Tickets cost $8 from the town office beforehand or at any stop on the tour. Plus, from 3 p.m. but lasting until 6, you also get a tea at the Wilson Warehouse on Lowe Street -- a fine way to end your three days. All tour proceeds help keep up the Warehouse, also known as the Buchanan Community House, an old and interesting structure in and of itself. So look around while you're there.

One stop on the home tour list: one of the first ranch houses built in Buchanan. Mary Adkins recently restored it. Another recent restoration, this to a late Victorian Colonial Revival place, is Joe and Diane Di Palma's home. They run Eagle's Wings Antiques in Buchanan. John Shotwell's Victorian bed and breakfast south of town will be the only place on the tour where, if you want to stay after the tour, you can. But do make reservations first.

Skipping from the old to the nearly new, you can see Sky and Dianne Preece's contemporary place on Lithia Road. It has only been completed for about two years. Nearly as new is Kim and Mark Bennett's home north of town. They finished it in 2000.

When I asked Kim why such a busy mother would take the time to show her house, she replied that she respects "the work of the town improvement society. And this is a good cause for them so I couldn't say 'no.' " She also reckons she'll help herself a little bit, as they'll be doing some painting. "It's a good impetus to get stuff done that would have been prolonged five years," she quipped. She'll be using natural decorations, such as evergreens and pine cones, in her own signature country style.

The sixth home on the tour will be Realtor Janie Harris' recently restored place in town. As a Buchanan native, daughter of the late Frank and Louise Tetty, she even has a distant family connection to the original owner. She and her brother-in-law Don Thompson bought the place at an auction on impulse, and then took a lot of care in fixing it up. The house itself "was built using timbers from the old hotel up on James River Terrace, that burned almost as soon as it was built," she said. The result is a house that never creaks, she claims, because it has such strong timbers under it.

After this weekend, you'll be so full of the Christmas spirit you'll keep any Grinches and Scrooges far away. Ho, ho, ho.

All events go rain or shine except for the Home Tour, which has a Dec. 16 snow date.