The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles Readalong 2024 Part 2

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Welcome all new and old friends.

The journey continues.

Ooh yes. I'd love to see. My Mum and DD once made a massive gingerbread house, but tried to stick the pieces together with those little tubes of runny icing. The whole lot just collapsed like a pack of cards and slid off the table

@piscofrisco it is Calstock! Bit too far from us but what an amazing thing!

calstockadventwindows.co.uk/

They are nothing special- just pre-made ikea ones that I "just" have to stick together. Definitely a long way from the fantastic ones I collect on Pintrest in the certain knowledge I will never manage anything like that, but they are the first ones I've ever managed that are standing up on their own without a tin and lollipop stick scaffolding inside. Baby steps!

I'll do icing tonight and then the children will throw all the sprinkles and edible glitter at them

That video sounds a lovely present.

@BobBobBobbing they are darling, and just the perfect size. Getting them to stick together is a feat of engineering. At least the decorating bit should be the fun part.

We have had a steady stream of visitors over the past week. I think I have washed every sheet we own, all the towels twice, and I can’t tell you how many cups of tea I have made 🤦‍♀️ all good fun but what I haven’t done is read anything at all. Going to catch up this evening I hope! More visitors this weekend too … Hope all is well here!

Oh gosh, that sounds stressful @bigbadbarry

Tired, here. Busy week with birthdays and appointments etc. Also just about to do an appeal for DD to change schools. I feel like I'm getting a cold, too.

For anyone who loves kissabel apples like we do and finds it hard to get them in the shops, I found some in M&S on offer. Beautiful, they are, and so pretty!

Ooooh those look beautiful! What do they look like cut in half width ways with the star in the middle? What do they taste like?

They look fabulous cut in half. I won't cut another one right now, but here's a screenshot and a link from the kissabel website. We had some from Waitrose last year that were bright orange and quite small, but the ones from M&S are large, red and juicy. Tastes like a regular apple, really but the colour makes it seem different in a way I can't describe. They would look amazing as dried slices, or in a salad with walnuts and leaves.

https://www.kissabel.com/

@RainbowZebraWarrior i love that you did that for your mum. That’s so so sweet.

@BobBobBobbing love those wee houses!! I have, in the past, constructed them with a glue gun with glittery glue in it. I’m not even ashamed even thought it is NO (Nigel Opposite).

@RainbowZebraWarrior thank you for that! They look amazing, I will keep an eye out for them next time I'm in m&s!

Those apples look interesting. I’ll also see if I can find those.

I’ve had a day of getting to grips with the sewing project I’ve committed to for Christmas (why did I do that?) which has necessitated rethreading my overlocker, so to recover from the trauma I put up my Christmas twig. It’s much earlier than I’d normally do it but this thread has got to me.

It’s entirely artificial and the tiny lights are inbuilt, but with a few twinkly little baubles on it looks quite pretty. It’s quite hard to photograph, unfortunately.

It's a lovely twig @ElectiveAffinities.

I woke up with a sniffle and I've gradually felt worse throughout the day. Now have a temperature, a cough, ear ache and I'm aching all over. Every year I'm sick on my birthday. Without fail. (It's next week but we have a big dinner planned for Friday). It's so bloody annoying. The worst was the year I broke my arm falling off a ladder (whilst hanging Christmas lights actually). The following year I broke my other hand (falling out of a cab-own fault -I'd been on a very bottomless brunch). I've had flu, covid, noro, you name it, for my birthday year on year. I might give birthdays up as a bad job and just stick at 44!

That is so annoying @piscofrisco and disappointing when you have something special booked on Friday. Hope you can rest up and try to get better by then.

Oh no @piscofrisco ☹️ Dose yourself up and sleep if you can!

@electiveaffinities I feel your pain re the overlocker. I dread the re-thread!

Oh no, @piscofrisco what absolutely awful luck. I actually have a rubbish history with illness and Christmas, including the year I got cellulitis on Christmas eve. I hope you can get over whatever horrid virus you have in time to celebrate your birthday. Sorry if it's ruined your plans for Friday, though.

@ElectiveAffinities beautiful Twig! ❤️

I've gone to bed. I have a job interview tomorrow as well! 🫣

Evening All! I have iced my cake - in an almost identical style to last year (ie NVN). Planning to cut into it tomorrow evening following a candlelit Advent service at DD’s old university church. The service was a highlight of the Christmas build up last year - heavenly voices in the darkened chapel, softly lit by hundreds of candles with generous wafts of incense. It was spine-tinglingly good. Hoping for a repeat performance tomorrow.

Hope you feel better for tomorrow @piscofrisco and good luck for the interview. I bought dd one of those big armchair bed cushions for Christmas and realised that wrapping paper was not going to contain it so spent most of the afternoon making a sack out of cheap Christmas fabric - I am very impressed with how well it turned it! I’m considering making more for an economical and ecological year on year reuse. I’m not sure that it’s VN though.

Cactuscuddles ; He does approve of the Japanese tradition of wrapping things in fabric though (Furoshiki)-probably using more expensive fabric.

Oh, I love this thread! @Cactuscuddles thank you so much for posting about armchair bed cushions. I didn't really know they existed. My DH is disabled and struggles to sut up comfortably in bed, one of these will be ideal. Could I ask please where yours is from?

I am catching up with Nigel. I love what he writes here about toys. When I was a child, after getting up to use the loo at night, I would spy on my toys through the crack in the bedroom door jamb. I was totally convinced I would one night catch them cavorting.

I hope you all have a lovely day.

@ClaudineChronicles i actually got dd’s from tk maxx, its a very cute and fluffy blue and white flowered one, but they are available in lots of places. Dunelm do really nice high backed ones which may be more comfy for a man

Thank you! I might have to get a less cute and more orthopaedic version for DH, but wouldn't mind a fluffy version for me, so might have a look.

A few pages late but this thread is dangerous (expensive), following the post from @LillianGish I just happened to start browsing tea light advent calendars and then just happened to find one on offer at half price which just happened to find its way in to my basket and I get it this afternoon!

Feeling very envious of your Christmas activities. We can't decorate or anything until we finish decorating the bedroom. All the wardrobes are where the decoration boxes need to go.
Also, my Dr messed up my prescription so I'm stuck in the hospital pharmacy arguing with them that I need my meds today instead of tomorrow.