For Pawtuxet Village, Christmas is a time that hearkens back to the paintings of Currier and Ives, which depicted such memorable images of villages dotted with snow, townspeople busy on the sidewalks going from shop to shop looking for that perfect gift and smoke rising from the chimneys.

This time of year, Pawtuxet Village brings out the holiday spirit with a multitude of events and activities, going on right in Warwick and Cranston’s own backyard. Each year the village slows down the everyday fast pace of life in order to come together, celebrate the season and show what a village with a true community feel is really all about.

The holiday season in Pawtuxet is usually marked by two annual events, the Boat House Holiday Sale and the Pawtuxet Village Holiday Stroll, which this year will be held on the same weekend, resulting in the Holidays in Pawtuxet event being extended to a two-day weekend for the first time. The Annual Boat House Holiday Sale Coordinators are working together with the Pawtuxet Village Association (PVA) to pull it off.

“We’ve done the holiday sale for six years now, but this is the first year we’re doing the sale with the stroll,” said Micki Whelan, who’s in charge of the Boat House Sale. “It’s a wonderful sale at the Aspray Boat House that features affordable gifts made by local artists. We’re happy to partner with the Pawtuxet Neighborhood Association and we see this as a win-win for all involved with an entire weekend of activities.”

In addition to the holiday stroll, the weekend will feature many family-focused events such as gift-basket sign-ups and ornament making, a village-wide open house, food tasting from local restaurants, the annual tree lighting in the village and more.

The festivities will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 13 with the kick-off of the holiday stroll and sale at the Aspray Boat House in beautiful Pawtuxet Park. The celebration continues on Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Carriage rides will begin at noon, with a visit from Santa not long after and holiday arts and crafts to entertain children. Families will be invited to make a wish for the New Year at the Village Yule Log, which will be lit at the Pawtuxet Armory throughout the day. At 6 p.m., a Gourmet Gala with food and drink donated by local village bistros will be held at the Aspray Boat House. At sunset, Christmas carols will fill the air, preparing for the annual tree lighting ceremony at Pawtuxet Park (Narragansett Parkway) and the sound of a cannon, which will signal the culmination of the weekend festivities. At that time, everyone will be invited to gather at the Pawtuxet Armory for hot cider, hot chocolate, cookies and more caroling.

The village, which will be lighted with white lights at dusk, will also be wrapped in distinctive holiday finery created by the PVA, including the wreaths decorating the historic lanterns, which have been donated in honor of friends and family (visit www.pawtuxetvillageassociation.org to see a complete listing of names or to sponsor a wreath). Shoppers needn’t worry about parking either, as ample free parking will be available throughout the village.

But wait, there’s more. Local shop and business owners will be featuring their own specials and activities for participants to enjoy.

“We’ll be doing fireside chowder [this year], where we pass out cups of chowder and allow people to warm their hands by the fire,” said Dean Scanlon, who owns L’attitude Modern Eatery. “This is an annual event, but last year, for some reason, I was unaware of it until the last minute, so I was caught by surprise, but we were still able to get something together and had a good response.”

Scanlon said he’s been in the village with L’attitude for 10 years and enjoys what Pawtuxet does for the holiday season.

“People come up with new events every year. This is a true village with different people from all walks of life,” he said. “Cranston cooperates with Warwick and it’s a way to bring the two cities together.”

Scanlon calls the village “a real community.”

“The world is spinning like a top, but all of a sudden everything slows down and we stop and sing carols – it’s nostalgic,” he said.

Michael O’Rourke, owner of O’Rourke’s Bar and Grill, said from now until Christmas, Christmas carolers would serenade the restaurant on Friday nights beginning at 8 p.m.

“We’ve been doing it since we opened up in 2006 and it’s a huge hit,” O’Rourke said. “We have about five carolers that dress up with top hats and come and sing.”

O’Rourke, who grew up in the area and has been coming to the village “all my life,” said it’s beautiful and he’s delighted to see big boats coming into the cove to see what all the talk is about.

“People used to say ‘In it’s hey day, that was really popular at the time.’ Well, Pawtuxet Village is in it’s hey day right now,” O’Rourke said proudly.

Restaurants aren’t the only ones featuring specials this holiday season. Karen Calkins of Twice Told Tales Bookstore will have some book signings, but she said there’s a more important cause she’s participating in for the second year in a row, a cause many other Pawtuxet businesses are sharing.

“This is the second year that the shops are participating in the Heart Gallery,” she said. “It’s a program through Adoption Rhode Island where the shops put portraits of kids in need of homes in their store windows for a month in hopes of finding families for them.”

Calkins said she had a set of three children in her window last year and was successful in finding a family that adopted all three kids.

Calkins has a long history with the village having been at Twice Told Tales for 14 years, taking over from the previous owner who also was in business for 14 years.

“This is big this year,” she said. “It’s usually one day but because there’s such a demand, it’s two days this year.”

Calkins said she recently finished hosting an open house, but has two book signings planned for the holiday weekend. On Saturday at 10 a.m. local author Ed Iannuccilli will be on hand to sign copies of his book, “Growing Up Italian” and then at 2 p.m., Mary Jane Begin, another local author, will be available to sign copies of her latest work, “When Toady Met Ratty.”

Calkins said one of the advantages to experiencing Holidays in Pawtuxet is that it’s a great way to save on gas costs.

“People don’t want to travel far, especially in this economy, and this is a walking village,” she said.

Calkins said from the wreaths donated by Village members to the beautiful boxes on Pawtuxet Bridge done by volunteers in the Pawtuxet Garden Group, it’s evident that villagers want to slow things down in order to celebrate the holiday season and they’re proud to share it with anyone who’s interested in an old-fashioned Christmas experience.

“Everyone come and join us,” she said, “this is the greatest little secret in the state. We have a little bit of everything and it’s a wonderful community.”

For more information on this weekend’s festivities, visit www.pawtuxetvillageassociation.org.