Nigel Slater's The Christmas Chronicles

[Dillidilly]

I bought this wonderful book for my daughter as part of her Christmas present last year. Then I treated myself to a copy in the spring!
It's a fantastic book, full of stories, photography, poetry and 100 recipes for the Christmas season. As a hardback book with gold foil detailing it would even look gorgeous laid out as part of your Christmas decorations.

Each chapter roughly follows the days leading up to Christmas, and we've decided to read and share our thoughts about each chapter in the run up to Christmas, starting from late November if I remember correctly.

I thought it would be a lovely thing to share with someone you love. Currently £18.29 on Amazon.

Bought it!! I can't wait for it to arrive - I might take it on holiday with me

Mines arrived I refuse to look at it until December !!

@lollipoprainbow my copy is packed away because we're decorating, but I have a feeling it may start in late November?

I adore this book and follow it page by page day by day every Christmas. I don't make much of Nigel's stuff. I think he's a wonderful writer though.

Just ordered (you enablers )

I always plan a day to myself with loads of Chritmas magazines on the table , big pot of coffee , toast , jam (then move onto mincemeat pies )

So this year I have booked a day off in November just to do Random Christmas Things .

[quote Dillidilly]@lollipoprainbow my copy is packed away because we're decorating, but I have a feeling it may start in late November?[/quote]
@Dillidilly is right @lollipoprainbow !! It starts before December. Very much a winter time book. I’ll have a look and update when I can move

@Geamhradh

I adore this book and follow it page by page day by day every Christmas. I don't make much of Nigel's stuff. I think he's a wonderful writer though.

You have the perfect name for a thread about Wintery stuff

I am a resolutely winter person, just like Nigel!
I can recommend following him on Instagram as well. You get to see inside the lovely house he describes so well in TCC.

Ooh!

It goes from 1 November to end of January, I believe. So, a good excuse to start reading it sooner!

Will it make me love Christmas? I so want to love it. It was always really awful and stressful when I was a child and now with three teens I find it so unbelievably stressful. I love the lights, the idea of it, the carols etc but the constant need to buy stuff and making sure I have presents for everyone does my head in. I'm getting stressed just thinking about it.

@Bryonyshcmyony

Will it make me love Christmas? I so want to love it. It was always really awful and stressful when I was a child and now with three teens I find it so unbelievably stressful. I love the lights, the idea of it, the carols etc but the constant need to buy stuff and making sure I have presents for everyone does my head in. I'm getting stressed just thinking about it.

It will make you: Love Christmas Love Nigel Love winter Want to get up at 6am in December and write with s fountain pen in a beautiful notebook Visit Christmas markets (but not for mulled wine and tat, for vintage baubles and decorations) Spend ££££££ on posh candles. I've always thought every year we should have a Read along with CC during the winter months. I find it so beautifully calming.

That has actually bought a tear to my eye
I clearly have a lot of unresolved issues about Christmas

Right Nigel is going to change my life this year

@Bryonyshcmyony

Will it make me love Christmas? I so want to love it. It was always really awful and stressful when I was a child and now with three teens I find it so unbelievably stressful. I love the lights, the idea of it, the carols etc but the constant need to buy stuff and making sure I have presents for everyone does my head in. I'm getting stressed just thinking about it.

Sorry to hear you had awful childhood Christmases and you find it stressful. Can you take away a lot of the present buying? Agree with some people not to exchange gifts. Decide not to buy for some others - your can tell them in advance that you are cutting back for environmental, or other, reasons. And for those you have to buy for, simplify things - cash, vouchers, bottles of wine, books.

Treat this, and any other Christmas book, as fantasy - beautiful to look at and to spark your imagination, but not to put more pressure on yourself.

Putting this on my 'to buy' pile.

books.google.co.uk/books/about/Christmas_Days.html?id=PltxDAAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y

This book by Jeanette Winters on might appeal to any fiction lovers here. Good recipes too.

I tried that one year and my parents didn't speak to me for 6 months.

Treat this, and any other Christmas book, as fantasy - beautiful to look at and to spark your imagination, but not to put more pressure on yourself
That sounds lovely. Even if it's just a few minutes a day to myself keeping the idea of a lovely calm Christmas alive. My teens and dh are lovely and non grabby and always thrilled with what they get, I just find it madly stressful. I actually dread it. Which is odd as I am very calm normally.

What I love about Nigel's book is that its not about presents and shopping and buying loads of stuff, it's about loving winter, the dark nights, the cold and lighting candles, mulling wine, cherishing your old decorations which you unwrap from a crackle of tissue paper. I love the photos and I love his descriptions of other European Christmas traditions which remind me of my own favourite Christmases when we lived in Berlin. It's a book to make you feel Christmassy and embrace the vibe curled up in the cosiness of your own sofa and it might inspire you to light a candle or add the soft twinkle of some fairy lights, but not to head out into the bright lights of the High Street with all those hackneyed Christmas tunes played on a loop which are exactly the opposite of what he is describing.

@LillianGish

What I love about Nigel's book is that its not about presents and shopping and buying loads of stuff, it's about loving winter, the dark nights, the cold and lighting candles, mulling wine, cherishing your old decorations which you unwrap from a crackle of tissue paper. I love the photos and I love his descriptions of other European Christmas traditions which remind me of my own favourite Christmases when we lived in Berlin. It's a book to make you feel Christmassy and embrace the vibe curled up in the cosiness of your own sofa and it might inspire you to light a candle or add the soft twinkle of some fairy lights, but not to head out into the bright lights of the High Street with all those hackneyed Christmas tunes played on a loop which are exactly the opposite of what he is describing.

That sounds perfect.

I've already started planning a Christmas corner for myself. We have a smallish cottage with small rooms and low ceilings. One room is optimistically called the dining room, it is almost completely taken up with a long table that we never eat at except at Christmas but there's a woodburner in there. I think I could squeeze a tiny old sofa under the window (we have one in storage). Then I could actually sit in there by the fire.

@LillianGish

What I love about Nigel's book is that its not about presents and shopping and buying loads of stuff, it's about loving winter, the dark nights, the cold and lighting candles, mulling wine, cherishing your old decorations which you unwrap from a crackle of tissue paper. I love the photos and I love his descriptions of other European Christmas traditions which remind me of my own favourite Christmases when we lived in Berlin. It's a book to make you feel Christmassy and embrace the vibe curled up in the cosiness of your own sofa and it might inspire you to light a candle or add the soft twinkle of some fairy lights, but not to head out into the bright lights of the High Street with all those hackneyed Christmas tunes played on a loop which are exactly the opposite of what he is describing.

Yes! This. I am a nostalgic vintage girl and I know what he means about the old decorations. I have some left from my Mum who died last year, and they are the images of my childhood Christmas.

Vintage decorations from my mum's childhood, so over 90 years old now ❤

Your house sounds perfect for a Nigel-style Christmas @Bryonyshcmyony. I still can't believe I'm on a Christmas thread in July - most unlike me - but I do love this book! I'd also second previous posters who recommend following him on Instagram for more of the same vibe.

@Dillidilly

Vintage decorations from my mum's childhood, so over 90 years old now ❤

Beautiful...

Your house sounds perfect for a Nigel-style Christmas**@Bryonyshcmyony*
It does. Your post was actually really evocative...

@Bryonyshcmyony we are renovating a little old house on the coast, and have just put a little sofa in our dining room next to an open fire! We can curl up on our sofas and indulge in Nigel together!
Make your Christmas to please you, and take joy in the little things like a Christmassy candle and a mug of hot chocolate on a miserable afternoon. That's what I do: costs very little and gives me enormous joy x