Friday and Saturday, December 11-12, is the time for the annual Christmas Tour of Homes. The sanctuaries of the four downtown churches -- Episcopal Church of the Mediator, Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist -- will be open for tour visitors and there will be organ music at some of the churches. Houses featured on the Candlelight Tour Friday will be the homes of Mercer and India Harris (Rosewood), Virginia King and Skeet Willingham (Magnolia Cottage); and Rosemary Hopkins. Diana Smith and Tommy Russell’s renovation of the 1922 Wilkes Mill and Feed Co. and Robert Aiken’s Retreat will also be on the tour. . . . Homes on the day tour Saturday will be the Dunford-Canton home, owned by Pablo and Mikki Canton; Hagralin, home of Louis and Carol Harris; Alexander Bungalow, home of Ricky and Kathy Lindsey; the Rider House, owned by Smythe and Jane Newsome; and the lofts of Rita Bell and John Horton, and Preston and Catherine Sanders.

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There will be snow on The Square along with other activities and several of the downtown stores will be open for shopping. . . . Talk of the Town will be host for the champagne reception prior to the Colonial Dinner and there will be a performance at the Bolton Lunceford Playhouse.

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If you missed the Tidings of Great Joy concert by Duo Intermezzo at The Playhouse Sunday afternoon, you missed a treat, and an opportunity to get the real Christmas spirit.

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It was Superman to the rescue when Smythe Newsome ran off the track while unloading his lawnmower at the Rider House last week. Tree surgeon Wayne Callaway happened to come by and stopped to help. Wayne says he lifts weights (trees) and just picked the mower up and set it back on track. He told Smythe about cutting an oak tree that measured 11 feet at the base and how he managed to get it cut up and stacked by sheer manpower.

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Sherry Newsome, our Aonia community correspondent for many years, died on Thanksgiving Day. She was an efficient news gatherer and did many good deeds for friends and relatives. She will be missed.

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Rainfall reported in the Tyrone area last week was 1.9 inches; and in Washington, 1.65 inches. It's Monday night and it's beginning to rain with 100 percent chance tomorrow, so we'll probably end up with the wettest year in about 10 years.

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Peggy West and her family put together a great dinner for the Lions Club’s annual Christmas dinner Monday. Jason Tanner cooked the delicious ribeye steaks and Lisa Drake provided pecan pie. . . . Melissa Turnbull entertained club members and guests with beautiful Christmas music. Some will remember Melissa as the skater in the Washington Little Theater’s production of Nunsense Two, 11 years ago.

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Wilkes County's Sylvia Lee Walker, 10-year old daughter of Ed and Selena Walker of Rayle, will be singing at the First Baptist Church Atlanta’s annual Christmas program December 12 and 13. The church is the home church of well-known evangelist Dr. Charles Stanley. The program will be hosted by Mitchel Jon and includes special guests Daniel Crews and Joe Castillo, along with the Atlanta Worship Choir and Orchestra. Sylvia Lee is the granddaughter of Suzanne and Gary Norman of Washington.

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I have done the major part of my Christmas shopping in Downtown Washington at Bee Southern, Poss-Ace, Talk of the Town, The Christmas Shop, and Tena’s. I expect to get the rest of it done in those and other downtown stores at the end of the week. . . . It’s a great place to shop. You can’t get the personal service you get here anywhere else.

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The tornado warning we had in the county last Wednesday cut into our Wednesday afternoon News- Reporter sales. I’m sure nobody wanted to risk getting out and encountering a tornado. We’re thankful it passed us by, and thankful, too, that we were warned.

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We’ve got two more rounds of

early deadlines for holiday issues of The News-Reporter and things will get back to normal. We thank all of our readers and advertisers for their cooperation in getting their information to us early. Early deadlines for the December 24 issue are: Thursday, December 17, at 5 p.m., for all classified and legal ads, society news, and community correspondents. So as not to confuse you (and us, too,) I will wait until next week to give you the deadlines for the December 31 issue. . . . We will be closed Tuesday through Friday, December 22-25, and Monday, December 28.

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He and She, who got the dates for the performance of The Rockettes at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, say that it was worth the two trips they made to Atlanta because it was quite a show.

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Tiger Band citrus fruit will arrive Friday and be ready for pickup at Pliant Corporation at 6 p.m.

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Cliff Hargove, Wilkes County forester with the Georgia Forestry Commission, told me about the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCo- RaHS), a nationwide volunteer observer network that reports rain, hail and snow. Of course, in Georgia we are mostly interested in rain. The rainfall data collected will be helpful to meteorologists because the National Weather Service has only a few dozen automatic weather stations in Georgia. The goal is for an observer in each county. Wilkes County needs a volunteer. If you are interested, call Cliff at the Georgia Forestry Unit or go to http://www. cocorahs.org/ for information and to sign up. Counties in Georgia that have the rain recorder are Burke, Glascock, Jefferson, Lincoln, McDuffie, Taliaferro, and Warren.

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Don't forget the Washington Christmas Parade Sunday at 3 p.m.