As your eyes open with a start, you gaze out from the pillowy leather recliner. The heat radiating from the fireplace brushes your cheek. It’s huge, the fire place is; the hewn chimney climbs all fourteen feet to the vaulted ceiling. The oak in the firebox crackles rhythmically. “Is that an entire tree?” you marvel. Seasoned walnut bookcases flank the cavernous fire place: a rolling ladder is installed to access the top-most volumes. Across the bear pelt covering the floor, your favorite person smiles back at you from a matching recliner. You smile back, of course.

You stand and join hands and step across the master suite to the bay window; to your delight, the stone floor is heated. The glass wall admits views of the vast valley beneath you; you observe the cliff on which your castle is perched. Faint whispers of the faded sunset peak through the sheets of blustering, glimmering snow. The iridescent white glow from millions of snowflakes illuminates a calm and serene and white wonderland.

You pass the kingly bedstead in search of the hot chocolate you smell and notice the gigantic mugs back by the recliners. There’s fresh, steaming, buttery cookies too: chocolate chip or snickerdoodle, whichever you prefer, or both, if you can. As you sit and sip and talk and taste, the minutes tick on and hours fly by; the snow still falls; it’ll be done by morning, Gustav says.

Glancing at the grandfather clock in the corner prompts a hasty journey to the land of nod. Your cozy suite has an equally cozy en-suite bathroom, finished to modern perfection. Heated stone floors, a gaping shower, warm lights, and a jacuzzi tub the size of a swimming pool. And more windows, complete with remote-controlled shades, for privacy. Still the snow falls, gentler now: the trees are draped in white velvet blankets. Though you’re quartered in an ancient castle, there is no damp or cold: you are glad you weren’t here 200 years ago. You both brush your teeth. You both climb into bed. Joy fills your heart, and chocolate chip cookies your stomach. You drift to sleep, blissfully unconcerned.