Christmas in a Castle

(To tune of White Christmas)...."I'm dreaming of a medievel Christmas, in a lovely castle along the Rhine."

And that's just what we got! This year, Jon and I spent Christmas in Shonburg Castle located in the village of Oberwesel on the Rhine River. It was an amazing experience and it was special to be able to spend it with our dear friends, Dave and Michelle, and Michelle's parents. We arrived at the castle in the afternoon of Christmas Eve and enjoyed our complimentary sherry and cake in D & M's tower room.

After exploring the castle grounds, we all retired to our rooms to get ready for our gourmet Christmas Eve dinner. We had four delicious courses of fancy food and exchanged gifts around the table.

Jon and I received some adorable coffee mugs with Australian animals on them.


After dinner, we all went to the tower to sing carols together, and read the Christmas story.

The castle was incredible and although it was no Christmas at the ranch or farm, it was an amazing experience we will never forget. Below are pics of the castle grounds;






After breakfast on Christmas Day, we embarked on a mini-tour of the Rhine and visited the Loreley (famous rock cliff that is legend to be home to a fair maiden) and later meandered along the Rhine to the town of Rudesheim where we had the famous Rudesheimer coffees.

Jon and I returned home and had a couple hours to prepare our potato dishes before going to our the Grades house for Christmas dinner. We enjoyed a delicious turkey with all the sides, but were eager to return to our apartment for the gift opening extravaganza. We had so much fun opening the many gifts from our families and each other.

In addition to a beautiful ring, Jon got me a karaoke game with microphones to play on his new Playstation 3. So, in true Clough fashion, between every gift we opened, we sang a song.

It was the perfect Christmas Night together and although we missed our families, we made the most of it and had a fantastic time with just the two of us. But, we weren't completely alone. We did have our mascots the Fox and Weasel taking part in the fun with us.

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, which means we will be hosting the annual New Year's Eve pre-party followed by a fireworks display at the Kurhaus (Casino) near our apartment. I'm looking forward to another great celebration to ring in the new year. It just keeps getting better and better!