Winter at South Court

December 22, 2012

Happy Holidays to all our guests and any and all blog readers!

We have had a very busy October at the Inn. Since then things have slowed down. We have decided to close over Thanksgiving and Christmas as well as New Year's to enjoy time with family and friends. I was able to visit several Christmas markets in Germany in the beginning of December, Hannover, Magdeburg, Münster and Aachen where I picked up all I needed to make Feuerzangenbowle at our OPEN HOUSE on December 13. I also bought a lot of German Christmas cookies to serve then. It was an event to connect with our Luray neighbors and was really well attended. For me it was fun to give the event a German spin.

While I was gone our landscaping plan for our backyard started to be realized in that plantings were done behind the stone wall toward our neighbor's properties. Phase I of many more to come.

On we went with plans to renovate our owner's quarters and we seem to have a good plan in place. Work will be done starting middle of January into April.

Before that though the Osmers family minus our oldest son Chris will visit Tanzania to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and go on a Safari afterwards. This has been Tom's great wish for gis High School graduation. In preparation we have gotten Yellow Fever shots, started taking our Malaria Meds yesterday and made REI Fairfax a whole bunch richer by getting outfitted properly. We have the Tanzania Visas in our passports and are wondering if we will all make it or if fatigue or altitude sickness will prevent the ascend from happening. I will let ou know.

Also yesterday we posted our Murder Mystery weekends online, planning one at the end of January, February and March. In the summer and fall this idea had come up with guests and they more or less requested it. Please check the website for all the information needed. A knitting weekend is in the pipeline as well and will be planned most likely for a weekend in March.

Our sons Lukas and Tom have returned from college and we are awaiting Chris today to arrive from Atlanta, where he works now. 

Time to check on my cookies! 

Have happy, relaxing and healthy holidays, Adelheid and Mike