The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles Readalong 2024 Part 3

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Welcome to thread three.

The Christmas Chronicles is the story of Nigel Slater’s love for winter. Taking you from 1 November all the way to early February, The Christmas Chronicles covers everything from Bonfire Night, Christmas and New Year to Epiphany. Throughout the season, Nigel offers over 100 recipes to see you through the build-up, the celebrations and the aftermath.

Anyone who hasn't yet joined in, there's still a big chunk of the book to go as you can see from the description above. It's in diary form with an entry most days and is easy to dip in and out of.

Anyway, welcome friends new and old. Pull a cosy chair closer the the fire, light a candle, pour a glass of something warming and settle in.

Back from a bracing beach walk with our fluffy boy for his 13th birthday! I made the rare purchase of some roast chicken bits and he is happily slumbering having had treats.

@SheherazadesSeasonalNonsense what a marvellous tree! Glad you’ve got more time there as it looks wonderful.

@EphemeraleEudemonia you do have such lovely phrases, and the descriptions of your trip and purchases are enthralling.

I am not a keen wrapper so have been doing bits as I go along. I’ve made a note in my phone diary if I stashed anything I don’t want my fellas to see so that I can retrieve it. I will not be repeating the failure of hope over experience of having a Christmas Eve wrapping session with fizz, mince pies and Christmas music. DH is undiagnosed ADHD (& I know this as it’s part of my adult educational assessment remit!) and from behind a closed door we usually hear the noise of commencement of tape and scissors after midnight early on Christmas morning. I do smile at the epic fail when the children were little. Ds1 had his big boy bed with sliding doors on the bed base and we figured that this would be a good hiding place 🙄. I had hidden his gifts in shopping bags underneath. Even now, I recall the Ninja movements necessary to slide the gifts out with the minimum of rattle on Christmas Eve!

An a happy birthday to bimble hound.
I still have wrapped ANYTHING

Ah, how lovely for doggy to have a bracing birthday walk @Bimblesalong

With me it totally depends whether the disorganised and procrastinating ADHD side of me wins the day, or whether the super organised, bossy Autistic side takes over. I've always said that it's the Autism that drives me mostly, but it depends on many factors. In the end, having no partner means I have to do it all myself and I'm only creating a nightmare for me if I left it all till the last minute or didn't do it. (The Autistic me would just meltdown)

Which brings me to my hyperfocus of the afternoon. Heady, Frankincense heavy scented candles and Cinnamon soap. I have to make honey soaps for presents (specific request from my uncle every year) so of course that all got put to the end of the bench while I played about with the alchemy of my own choosing. (I'll do the honey soap tonight as DD likes pouring it then cutting it once cured; very satisfying)

Everything smells amazing!! The essential oils linger for days. I think that's largely why I like doing it.

Thank you all for lovely messages. I've just been reading through the threads and it's so nice to see what everyone is doing; so many beautiful photos and lovely descriptions of winter activities.

I love that expression of "held together with string and packing tape" Have never heard it before but it made me smile and will keep it in mind.

I'm another pannetone-disliker. Despite being married to an Italian (tbf, he doesn;t like it either). Panforte is a big thing in our house at Christmas, although I don't like that either.

I had one of the best pizzas of my life in Prague. And a particularly wonderful apple strudel. I can't remember anything else we ate though, which is unusual for me - I normally have an encyclopedic brain of food I have eaten.

I wish we could smell the house through the screen-it looks like it smells amazing!

Those candles look fantastic, from a previous post I have just ordered a copy of Bitter Almonds as it looks exactly my type of book.
Just about to go out dog walking with DD2.

@EphemeraleEudemonia your trip sounds fabulous. Everyone's talk of travel has me pondering a trip somewhere around this time next year 🤔

@Bimblesalong happy birthday to your furry companion 🥳

@RainbowZebraWarrior your candles and soaps sound like they smell amazing. Scratch & sniff MN would be fun to have sometimes!

I've just spent half an hour arranging decorations for the tops of the Christmas cakes - at least one needs to be iced and ready to deliver on Friday morning ish to my friend's lovely dad. I popped in to collect a couple of parcels today, and my friend since we were heading out for lunch, and he's filled me a stocking of little surprises after I mentioned on the phone the other night that I haven't had a stocking since I was a child 😊

I'm just about to catch up the last couple of entries, before bed 💤 . 2 working days to go & I am so looking forward to two slower weeks.

A late good evening, and hope all is well with everyone.

I've just realised that I wittered on earlier about my Eucalyptus, but failed to post a pic.

Whilst I was candle making today with the radio on, the news came through of the sentencing regarding Sara Sharif's murder. I've made a candle especially for her and will light it on Christmas day and think of her.

For now, I'm burning this duo.

Sending love to you all.

Evening all. Just popping in to say I love all panettone but the best one I’ve ever tasted is the aperol one.

it

is

to

die

for.

That is all. Oh! Also, I went to see my very poorly friend today & took her a St Eval + TKMaxx collab candle (mandarin & clove) as she can’t tolerate any food and she adored the scent. We talked lots about her Xmas movie (that is doing so well) & ventured out in the dark to a wee gift shop too. She got stocking fillers for her DD. It was heaven.

18 December

The almond paste

The origins of the ancient paste made from ground almomds and sugar are complex but it almost certainly came to us from the Middle East. The earliest mentions attribute it's invention to the Persians, whom we should also thank for formal gardens, cheques, etiquette, polo and postage stamps. The paste was originally eaten not as a sweetmeat but for its medicinal qualities. A product of the apothecary rather than of the confectioner.

Good morning, all!

The wind here has been driving me crackers since the weekend. 40mph+ seems to just be the norm now, and is only ever noted on the forecast as either 'a fresh breeze' or occasionally 'gusty winds' Looking back on last year's notes, we had high winds this time last year, too. Along with the unseasonal 13 degrees.

@AgathaMystery pleased your friend managed to get out to visit the gift shop and that her film is doing so well. Also, Aperol Panettone? Yes, I have now googled this, and no I must not buy it (but gosh, it does sound lovely!)

40 PMH winds really are regarded as 'fresh breeze' now, aren't they? It's worrying - clearly we're all going to have to get used to these frequent winter storm and build/proof our houses accordingly. Ours has recently re-sprung a leak at the extension join and was merrily and festively dripping last night...

Thank you for the welcome to this group! I haven't joined the CC thread for a couple of years.

I'm mostly chasing my tail but was really hoping to go to a local NT property on my own today to enjoy it decorated for Christmas. It's only a very small house but has lovely walled gardens which are very much part of the treat. Now it's so blustery I wonder if it's going to be worth it... (Last day of 'freedom' really - tomorrow I'm on the rota for something I volunteer at, Friday is DS2's birthday and will probably be decorating his cake while he's at his last day at school!)

Can I add myself to the Team Panetone? I love it. Nobody else does in this house which is just fine. All mine, then. I've never tried to make it, it requires absurd numbers of rises and probably a proving oven, but Italians don't tend to make their own either, sensibly buying armfuls from the shops in pretty boxes. I've stopped buying the cheaper ones from Lidl (sometimes Lidl's continental imports are great but their Panetone isn't!) and will probably get mine from the local deli or failing that, Waitrose. I can't be doing with these fancy ones with fillings, though.

@GlomOfNit I’m going to a national trust house today too, but sadly the gardens have been shut due to the winds. I’d have left it for another day but have booked an afternoon tea there. Bit annoyed as obviously the gardens are all part of the treat, but oh well.

Not to brag (too much) but I have pretty much finished my wrapping. Just waiting for Royal Mail to deliver a couple of things from Etsy which claimed to be UK delivery and then spent a week being transported around the Ukraine. Fingers crossed we still have time for them to arrive

Ah rainbow that's lovely re your candle for Sara Sharif. I've been thinking about her a lot this week-it's cases like that that have made me want to switch to children's social work. These children deserve so much more and I want to be able to help in some small way.
@AgathaMystery that does sound a lovely day.

At work today and absolutely weary. And still haven't wrapped a thing!

Good evening, all!

Hope everyone is doing well. @Bimblesalong I think it was treatment day for you today. Hope all went well.

@LillianGish I'm guessing you will be preparing for your trip to the UK around now. If my memory serves me correctly it is your Mum's 88th birthday on the 21st?

All good here. I've just taken my last antibiotic after two weeks worth of the rotters. Hopefully my stomach will be well recovered for flying on Friday!

Well remembered @RainbowZebraWarrior - I am indeed mid packing for my return on Saturday. My joy is more than a little undone however by sudden the stage 4 cancer diagnosis of a very dear friend who is now unable to travel home to visit her aged parents. I went to the hospital with her today to have her chemo port fitted. She’s in bright, brave good form, but no partner or kids so trying to make sure she feels surrounded and supported. Sad I won’t be here for Christmas with her, but she will spend it with another friend. So inspired by all the cheerful positivity and kindness on this thread - I’m trying to help her feel the love (all suggestions gratefully received). Attaching some photos from a festive day with her earlier this week. She starts her treatment on December 27, so - as she very bravely said - at least she can have a bit of Christmas first.

So sorry to hear about your friend, @LillianGish This is such a poignant time of year for many reasons, but it really does make you stop and think at times.

I've seen a rapid decline in my mother's health since she turned 80, two weeks ago. It looks like classic dementia to me, and whilst we try to prepare ourselves for these things, they still come as a shock. It has literally been like flicking a switch, and I feel utterly floored by it. I shall have to make an appointment with the GP, but she won't be a willing participant as she's quite a difficult person. (Likely undiagnosed Autistic; myself and DD are diagnosed, my grandmother had significant Autistic traits, but whilst Mum has been great with our diagnoses, she absolutely has her head in the sand about herself)

@LillianGish in so sorry to hear about your friend - how tragic. If I could offer a suggestion based on my experience twitch my friend - if your friend can eat - now is the time to do that. Body fat reserves make a huge huge difference.

@LillianGish I’m so sorry. If there’s anything positive I can share, it’s that the woman opposite me in chemo today is stage 4 and has been for some time. She shared her cancer hadn’t grown and she is living a good life. Bloody disease. The port will help her (I have a picc) as at least she’s not having more needles for bloods and treatment. She might like some gentle hand and body creams. My face is now so dry that face oils really help
with moisture (I use Aesop fabulous facial oil). Little snacks help with nausea. I have a packet of gingins to suck and fine that strong mints help. Also the drugs. Most importantly, keep in touch with her, little contacts, big ones, even when she can’t respond for a while.

@AgathaMystery thankyou - I’m carrying some chemo and steroid timber so that is helpful.

im sorry to hear about your mum @RainbowZebraWarrior MIL had dementia for the last few years. We moved her into a house down the road and nursed her closely with the support of care staff. She only knew dh at the end. Any happiness now or down the line is special. The little things are the big things.

Bimblesalong lots of love and huges to you, lovely. (I spotted your knitting and your lovely gorgeous soppy boy further up-thread and thought - excellent, she's here too. )

So sorry for everyone who's supporting loved ones through these big things.

Today I dried orange slices to hang on the bottom of the tree, in order to deter the Bloody Cats. It hasn't worked: one of them thinks it's excellent that I've brought a tree (one of his favourite things) into the house and hung it with cat toys (also favourite) and he's removed a knitted Santa, four of DS1's dinosaur decorations and two knitted gingerbread men. Think he likes the texture of the fabric ones! Still, the orange slices look pretty and it felt like a pretty Nigel thing to do.

The tiny NT house was good, but really busy, and the gardens are a bit bleak, for all they've been dressed up for Christmas. I took a lot of photos of wreaths on doors.

Whoops, couldn't get my Nigelesque oranges to load! Possibly something up with MN tonight, I'll try tomorrow as they're pretty and make me feel like I've achieved something today.

Although, leafing through, I just read 'I find the smell of dried oranges and cloves a bit musty in an auntie's-wardrobe kind of a way, but it appeals to others.' Which is a beautifully elegant NS put-down suggesting that while he is above such things, some of us are auntie-underwear sniffers. Anyway, the problem is that my orange slices DON'T smell, and maybe that's why they've not put the cats off.

@LillianGishI'm so sorry to read about your friend. I second Bimble's suggestions and add lip salve, as well as my skin, I found my lips got so dry.

I have posted a picture of my precious nativity crib. Its more the wooden stable that's precious. It was made by my grandfather for my mother when she was a child. He died when she was 5 so I reckon it was made about 1933. It's only very simple but it was a staple of her childhood Christmases and then of mine. We always put it under the tree and the 3 kings would go on the mantlepiece, moving closer to the crib each day until they finally arrived on January 6th. In some ways I would like a nicer set of figures, but I couldn't ever replace these because Mum gave them to me when she handed the stable on to me.

19 December

Sour Pickles. Sweet comfort.

It isn't cold enough. We are almost at midwinter and you would barely know it here in London. The occasional frosty morning, some fog delaying flights at the airports, but I find myself envying the North of the country, with its early morning frosts and 'persistent' fog.

@GlomOfNit I made some orange and clove pomanders last week and they were not as I remembered. Firstly, the cloves really hurt pushing them in, and then I was just unimpressed with them overall. When I was young, I did large oranges and managed beautiful patterns, and an intricate ribbon feature. These latest efforts lay languishing on a side plate for a few days before they started looking rather sad, so I chucked them. The smell was neither here nor there. I do wonder if there's something up with my sense of smell though as I've only had two items so far that I like / will keep from my WC Advent. Today's offering of a Fir Tree scented candle just smells like something you put down the loo!

Anyway, last day of school today for DD. She's meant to be in tomorrow, but we are away. Hurrah. 2 weeks and 5 days off! 🎉

Fir tree scents always skirt so close to loo cleaner! The White company one, of course, stays the correct side of the line but is £££.
We have had an excellent couple of days in Krakow which is an extremely beautiful city and not too full of people! At the airport now heading back to the madness. Need to write cards (a very select few now we are into first class postage), make a birthday cake, make meringues, go to Costco this afternoon. Then hoping to sit down with a cup of tea and catch up with CC.