The Christmas Chronicles by Nigel Slater. Read Along Thread 2022

[Dillidilly]

INTRODUCTION

Nigel begins his Chronicles proper on 1st November, but there is a lovely, quite lengthy introduction we can dip into during the second half of October.

Last year, posters were also kind enough to share where they had found cut price copies of CC, so hopefully anyone late to the party still has time to find a copy before we start the first chapter.

I had forgotten the lovely introduction. Together with the beautiful photograph at the very beginning of the book, flipping through it and seeing his headings reminded me of why I loved it so much last year!

I adore aubergine but nobody else in my family will eat it. They do like lentils though so I’m thinking of doing the nice Nigel lentils with sausages. @MarisPiper92 i think you should give in to the urge. Make the book your own.

The lentil dish would go very well with sausages, and you could still do the aubergine for yourself!

Oh yes I am 100% having delicious aubergine myself!

This is what I am thinking of doing.

I'm a bit behind but I got some sweet wine for the apricot recipe - it's Zibibbo (muscat?) I hope that works!

I'm just watching NS's Christmas Suppers, before I head to bed. I'm not really watching though, more listening (I think I have a migraine brewing 🙄) his voice is very soothing & his handwriting lovely to look at...I wish mine was so nice.

I made the lentils today. DH was very impressed with the food, not so much when I demanded we book panto tickets 'cos Nigel says so'. I changed the word pantomime to theatre, and next week we are now going to see A Christmas Carol

9 NOVEMBER
The Christmas list and a fig tart

Today's chapter has given me pause for thought...
I've always had a notebook for lists: household things, baby lists back in the day, gardening, and of course Christmas. I found some of my notebooks from 25/30 years ago in the loft recently and had a peep at the past.
But I realise that for the last 3 years I've made all my lists on my phone.
That feels a wee bit sad somehow. A tick in a little box, then deleted and gone forever. No peeps at the past in years to come

Is that at the RSC? I seem to be being followed by adverts for it and I'm very tempted

No, it's a local theatre. I have never been to the theatre before so looking forward to seeing what it's like

That made me laugh @Cockle1234 - I think I too would prefer to see A Christmas Carol than a panto.

I make lists on my phone and notebook @Dillidilly some how my phone saves them but it is nostalgic to look back on past notebooks. I used to keep a "home" one and I love looking at that. Might reinstate it rather than having random lists and notebooks everywhere 🤔

I expect Nigel has leather bound notebooks and fountain pen...

There must be something in the ether because I bought myself a new notebook yesterday (we will not speak of the pile of notebooks on the shelf), thinking I might make christmas lists in it then I could look back on it in the future. Pre-Nigelled Nigel

@bigbadbarry definitely something notebook-y in the air as DD had a good chew on mine today before carefully pulling all the leaf skeletons off the cover and handing the bits to me. She’s never shown interest before

Spooky! I was thinking to myself just yesterday that it’s time to bring out my Christmas Planner and make my lists...

I used to be a big list-writer/notebook keeper, but it’s fallen away over the past 10 years. I still buy notebooks here and there though - I find them so hopeful and soothing, full of gentle promise. Must start using them; I agree with you @Dillidilly, so much is lost when we no longer physically write things down.

I haven’t read the chapter yet. I think I’ll save it for tonight, or maybe tomorrow.

@lucysmam just saw your comment about the pink Christmas village! Could you embrace it and just spray it with glue and add white glitter instead?

I have gone from notebooks to electronic lists. Whilst I miss the nostalgia of a notebook, having all my lists on my phone is much more manageable and no one else has access. The downside is inadvertently deleting lists (have recently deleted my Christmas reading list!). I was forever hiding up my notebook away from prying eyes and despite it being on the smaller side, it didn’t always fit into my bag.

i couldn’t find my notebook last year and was delighted to find it in DS’s room in the clutter.
Imagine my horror when I discovered he had claimed it as his own sketch book and ripped my boring lists and jottings out never to be found 😬

I use my phone for all sorts of things (including calendar and a few lists) but I am very much a notebook user too. I have a red Christmas/Birthday notebook which started life as a list of gifts eldest DC (now 18) wqs given at birth and has carried on as a card and gift list book ever since (gifts received, cards sent). I make lists of gifts to buy in my main note book, these are bullet journal type a5 notebooks, I started in Feb 2016 and always have one on the go. I take it to work and on holiday and to any meetings I go to but not shopping, hence a few lists go on my phone. The colours of my books are NVN.

I also started a smaller separate one this year for books I've read (shown with Nigel for scale), I used to write them in my main journals but wanted to keep them all in one place. This one is possibly a Bit More Nigel.

Ooh I think that lovely collection of notebooks is really quite N

@EspeciallyD I like the colours of your notebooks!

I've just read yesterday, and today's entries. Our panto tickets have been booked for weeks now (2 lots - one for us, and our local amdram production for my Rainbows and Guides, and the Brownies are coming with us). We haven't been for the last few years & the girls were shocked that I had to ask if they wanted to go 🤣

@Cockle1234 I think our local, small, theatre are performing A Christmas Carol this year. I was toying with taking dd1 as it's one of her GCSE texts but don't think I can fit it in.

I bought some bay laurel oil at the beginning of the week & it's currently in my humidifier smelling lovely. For some reason, when essential oils were discussed last year on this thread, I had it in my head that they were stupidly expensive! I've acquired some pine cones that I'll use it on at the end of the month when I move my artfully arranged squash & pumpkin fairy lights. Dd1 even commented, without knowing that the humidifier was on, that the house was smelling nice this evening.

On the subject of notebooks; I have several million on the go for a variety of things. I want to try bullet journalling but seem to have a mental block on it for some reason, so shall plod on with my scrappy, half used, cast offs (of which there are many 🤦‍♀️).

I almost forgot, in my enthusiasm to not forget anything...

Did any of you try the dried fig & marsala tart last year? It sounds lush but not sure whether only me and dd1 would eat it. And, do you reckon I could sub the marsala with...something...else? Not sure what though, just wondering if I could avoid buying too many extras for now.

@TangledWebofMincemeatDeception it's either embrace the pink, or maybe risk a sterilising tablet. It's still safely tucked away while I decide how brave I feel and attempt to get the church right.

I get mental blocks with the bullet journals sometimes, I have only been using mine for lists and notes for the last 6 months or so and would like to get going again with a bit of journalling, gratitudes etc. Those are the things I'll want to look back at in future, not endless to do lists, useful as they are.

Hello everyone,
I realised with a start last night that I hadn't started to read the Christmas Chronicles this year, so I had everything to read up to November 9th - so got to sleep rather late last night!
I read the book for the first time last year and love the idea of making a new tradition of reading it each year. I have a tradition of reading a Christmas Carol each Christmas from 20th to 24th December, finishing the last page as midnight strikes on Christmas eve - I've managed to keep that up for 49 years so I don't really need the book anymore!
Looking forward to reading the book with everyone.

I love your Christmas Carol tradition @allthelittleangelsriseupriseup!

@EspeciallyD I bullet journal and have done for 4 or 5 years now. But I keep those journals as more of a wellbeing type thing rather than use for lists.