Priscilla Richardson

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Finished with your gift shopping yet? Didn't think so.

Since you and I don't have endless hours, here are some of my easy-does-it tips. These are ways you can do all your shopping in Botetourt County while you save your time and gasoline -- and support local jobs, to keep Botetourt money in Botetourt.

Food is always the perfect choice, because everyone eats. And delegating packing and shipping removes the backache. Just have one of our local orchards send boxes of apples or regional foods. All you do is take your address list to one of them and you're done. You can do the same thing at our local grocery stores to send their goodies anywhere.

A gift certificate for any of our area restaurants is another painless gifting method. Make sure the recipient likes to eat there! Or if you know a hardworking host, you can deliver a fully cooked meal, courtesy of either one of the grocery stores or some of our area restaurants. Coordinate the date with the recipient, of course, and then you just might be invited to share it. Sneaky.

Other businesses that help you eliminate delivery woes: our local florists. And by the way, if you've been wondering whatever happened to Floral Expressions, Rita Young and Autumn Martin moved it from Botetourt Commons to the corner of U.S. 220 and Catawba Road. Any of our local florists can take your address book, create flower arrangements and other seasonal decorations and deliver them for you, in Botetourt or out. Your green thumb giftees would love an exotic plant, and your black thumb ones would love silk greenery. Again, one-stop shopping.

If you want to give something more lasting than food, consider works of art. Gallery by the James, for example, at the end of Buchanan near the James River bridge, always carries original works created by different artists. Then there are the framing shops that carry art, too, in Fincastle, Daleville and Buchanan. And never forget antiques, always popular. Oddly enough, I hear from my friends in the art and antiques trade that they sell more to outsiders who visit than to locals. It's time for us to discover our local sources and artists.

But maybe you want to give something you pick out that suits a person's daily lifestyle. Once again, back to food items. Where you do your weekly grocery shopping will give you an easy-does-it source for your gifts. How about a collection of those tiny bags of different kinds and flavors of coffee? Or some things to go with coffee, such as ginger cookies or delicious chocolates?

The same reasoning works with teas. Different flavors of teas are available from the grocery store or from our own Tea Tavern on U.S. 220, next door to the Botetourt Veterinary Hospital. Here's another side note: Tea Tavern is now under Kim Arney's ownership. Arney can help you create a gourmet collection of teas. And you might want to add a cozy teapot.

I've left off the place I'd head to first for unique gifts, the Botetourt Historical Museum. Open weekdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. till 2 p.m., and Sundays from 2 p.m. till 4, it offers note cards and a wide variety of books for sale about local history. I recommend Lucy Breckinridge's diary for a young girl's take on the Civil War. Or the seminal "Seedbed of the Republic." Or Mike Cecere's book about the Fincastle Rifles. And there are many others.

Another place I'd head to? Fireside Books in Buchanan. Since my family and friends read books, I know I'll find the right thing there for them and for myself. But I also know I'll never want to leave. So I don't go there to save time, but to have a good time.

So, you see you can purchase everything you need for Christmas gifts right here in Botetourt. You can save time and energy, yours and the kind you buy at the pump. And you can have a great time doing it as you greet friends and neighbors doing their shopping, too. Why go anywhere else?