The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles Readalong 2025

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Hello all, it's that time of year again!

For anyone who has not already had the pleasure, the annual Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles read along is a real time annual MN tradition.

The Christmas Chronicles (Notes, stories and 100 essential recipes for midwinter) book begins on 1st November, however there are 25 pages of Introduction. That's why I start the thread one now; to allow time to prepare and fully appreciate Nigel in All His Splendour come 1st November.

Some regulars to the thread already have the book. For anyone new, it's a challenge to see of you can pick up a bargain. Vinted has come up trumps in the past, as has ebay. A rare and precious charity shop find is always a bonus. Don't forget, you can also listen along to Nigel's dulcet tones via Audible.

I shall post daily and we can share our thoughts and feelings on the days recipes, sentiments and indeed Dear Nigel himself. Observations of nature and the seasons are also very welcome.

So welcome to old friends and new, and don't forget that reading by candle light is particularly enjoyable. Cire Trudon may be one of Nige's candles of choice, but it's somewhat pricey. We don't discriminate against other less expensive brands - even if they are NVN (Not Very Nigel)

Pull up a chair, light a candle, grab a cosy blanket and join in!

I am loving reading CC with DH we’re making the apricot brandy as I type and had leeks and sausages dish after very rainy fireworks yesterday. Our 3 kids are all a bit older now (over 9) so we have a new kind of time to do these things on the weekend which is absolutely lovey. Have lit a st eval cinnamon candle I didn’t even know I had and have the Netflix fire on with cat curled up on my lap. Feeling soooo cosy. Thank you all for this lovely thread.

Sliding in quietly and lighting a lovely candle. It’s been too crazy to be Nigel, although the kitchen refurb is now reaching the point where cooking in there again is in sight. I bet Nigel didn’t have to live out of an air fryer and a microwave!

We decided to try to make some inroads into getting rid of more dust today. The builders had taken the plaster off down to the bricks in the kitchen and it shows in the rest of the house. My studio pottery collection is mostly out of the way in another room but I cleaned off the dresser and washed the crocks on there out on the terrace. It looks lovely and bright (and half empty) and has inspired me to reorganise things when it all goes back on. We have one or two more dusty days to come though …

It’s very quiet without our dear dog and so sad when I’m expecting him to potter in and lean his dribbly mouth on my leg. We were very lucky to have the lovely fella for so long.

You can often get the very pink forced rhubarb in December - used to be January traditionally but the farmers clearly have a wider growing season now.

Bimblesalong I must have missed that about your lovely old chap. How sad, I can imagine what a hole he's left. Huges to you.

You are so brave coping with full-on builder chaos! I'm just at the start though I don't think ours will be as protracted as yours. We have a house wholly enfolded in scaffolding now...

Alicepottery your Mrs Christmas decoration is wonderful! I'm always looking at those patterns and thinking maybe this year ... but I never get round to it. I have had my moments making felt decorations but not as elaborate as yours.

Today we went for a walk a bit of a distance away. As always, I planned for us to leave the house before 11 and as usual, that didn't happen ... We drove about an hour, walked along the path to a special megalithic monument, enjoyed the beautiful beech leaves (what's left of them) and the amazing range of berries in the hedges, and finally rocked up at my favourite pub for simple filled rolls (it's all they do) at 4pm! By the time we got home it was dark and one of the bloody cats is AWOL, which is irritating.

Beautiful autumn colours in the Wye Valley today. No candles but did find some lovely felt Christmas trees...which I left in the car and forgot to photograph.

Absolutely refusing to pay £9.99 for the kindle version of a book I already own so I will be catching up on Monday night when I get back home and will enjoy vicariously until then!

Our holiday cottage has a hot tub so I enjoyed the night sky from my bubbly bliss. I think that's probably partially VN!

Tomorrow we will explore bookshops in Hay on Wye and possibly fit in a castle so DH can bother some more ancient stones. If I can find him a stone circle he will be delighted!

Thank you @GlomOfNit , I've made a few bits from the same creator now (I've got pics on my Instagram page - same name as my MN username, profile picture is a pot on fire 😅). I admit that Mrs. Claus was a bit of a faff to make (and she will always be associated with a very sad event in the family unfortunately). My favourites to make were the stockings and accessories (The Night Before Christmas) and the most impressive is definitely the Lodestar tree topper (very repetitive to make though).

Lovely picture @GlomOfNit and thankyou for kind words about my brave and steadfast boy. Glad to hear that you made it out to the monument.
Hoping that your builders are as decent as ours and that the mess comes nowhere near our current state.

9 November

The Christmas list and a Fig tart

"The row of notebooks, black, brown, indigo, fat with bookmarks and held together with tape, gets ever longer. The handwritten books where I scribble not just notes and recipes, but my endless, obsessive lists. This morning, while it's still dark, I sit at the kitchen table, get out the current little black book and start this year's Christmas list"

I meant to reply to this yesterday. @Lemonbaytree Waitrose have their forced rhubarb in already. I notice because I swarch rhubarb every week to see which rhubarb yoghurts are on offer. I might pop some on the order for this weekend.

Hugely on board with today’s entry: “anyone who has wasted an hour of their life trying to find the bloody Sellotape will know what I mean”. Preach 🤣

Terrible start to the day; up at 2.30 with eldest. Couldn’t get back to sleep so came down to find oldest dog unable to walk. Thought his backend had gone (dachshund). Got my mum up and on the way to sit with the children while I took him to vet, got vet appointment and sat with him on my knee sobbing. After about half an hour he shook himself, got up and limped off - looks like it’s one back leg. He’s going to the vet at midday to look at his paw and is now walking round begging for food. I’m such a knob 🤦🏼‍♀️ The call to the vet to say we still needed an appt but probably weren’t dying was really fun 😳

Poor you @HornungTheHelpful, what a horrible start to the day. I hope he's feeling much better soon.

For some reason I thought I'd sleep in this morning after a late night, but of course my brain/body would have no such thing. But I have read Nigel over breakfast and got back into bed with a cup of tea. I love his approach to organisation - lots of lists but "not a military operation". I have to confess I've been using a cheap plastic lighter for everything for a while though - I had some matches in a candle gift set last Christmas and loved using them though (oh the smell). As we have some candle experts here, what do you use to light yours?

@martha79 I use a cattle prod style lighter- the rechargeable ones that crackle a spark between the prongs. If you have older dc, they can tease each other by demonstrating it on their finger, so that’s an added bonus.
@HornungTheHelpful I hope the vet appointment goes well. It’s a terrible worry as they get older.

@Lemonbaytree rhubarb freezes well, so I often have some in the freezer. If you can spare a corner of your garden it’s the easiest and most reliable of produce!

@GlomOfNit hope kitty turned up!

@HornungTheHelpful oh no poor pup. At least it doesn't sound so bad now, but what a shock you must have gotten. Good luck with the appt.

@KittyRannaldini Thanks for the heads up. I have a free café drink on my sparks card and am going to use it tomorrow morning, but definitely won't be choosing one of those!

Regarding lighting candles, it has to be matches for me. DD followed me around as I lit candles this morning sniffing the smell once the matches were spent. She then asked me how many candles and how many matches I go through a year. I was unable to answer. I have some gorgeous vintage matches that I found when I was clearing my Grandmother's house about 20 years ago.

Regarding sellotape, I invested in a Rapesco tape dispenser a few years ago. Then 3 more. They are dotted strategically around the house. So Helpful. My parents have them too. They will be reduced to a couple of quid on Amazon at some point so worth looking out for.

Usual trip to the market for us this morning. Leaving early as it will be busy for the Rememberence Sunday parade.

@HornungTheHelpfulhope the vet appointment goes well today.

These are the lovely felt Christmas trees I purchased yesterday. I think they might be good on the edge of our piano

Do any of you lovely people know when Aldi will have their winter candles in stock? I looked in our local one yesterday and none available yet.

good luck at the vet @HornungTheHelpful

@petitpasta oh how pretty! (And a piano is on my list for when I have a larger house.)

@HornungTheHelpful hope the vet goes well!

Thought I'd drop in and post- I'm enjoying revisiting the book. This year I'm flistening to the audible version first for Nigel's dulcet tones and then going to the book itself to skim read recipes, which aren't on audiobook (included as separate PDF), and to look at the lovely photos.

Inspired by Nigel, I'm having Italian sausages and canellini beans tonight. Not the version from the 5th (I've made that before- luckily got the leave out water tip on here beforehand) but with passata, as a sort of casserole.

N put Note to self: buy candles - so I've copied him. This year I've gone for one of Nigel's 14th Nov recommendations and bought myself Ash by Perfumer H. It's an annual 'buy a stupidly priced candle' ritual for me now.

Thank you, I'll pop in there.

I've looked back at last year's thread and the year before. It seems they were out around now, so I wonder if they may be appearing this Thursday in the middle aisle. I didn't bother with last year's. They tend to do a mix of their own festive scents and also some dupes I think.

My studio pottery collection is mostly out of the way in another room but I cleaned off the dresser and washed the crocks on there out on the terrace. Nigel himself could have written that sentence @Bimblesalong - your kitchen renovation process is so much more Nigel than you realise! Like @PrizedPickledPopcorn I also use a rechargeable candle lighter @martha79 - it was an inspired gift from my SIL and it was the gift I immediately thought of when I read: if you know them well enough to ask that question then you should probably know what they would like anyway. No use for lighting a Christmas pudding - you would still need matches for that, but I do love Nigel’s utter disdain for a cheap plastic lighter. Sorry to hear about sick hounds and lost cats - I hope all issues are resolved asap. There are some lovely seasonal and atmospheric photos on here, I don’t have anything so rural, but I did find myself in the Marché St Quentin yesterday afternoon - the most Nigelesque covered market imaginable - where I snapped these mushrooms, then turned down a darkened alleyway in the twilight and was astonished to chance upon this lush garden in the courtyard of a public library. It was a total surprise - just a stone’s throw from Gare du Nord, so quite a rough and ready district, apparently it used to be a prison and then a hospital which was repurposed ten years ago.

@RainbowZebraWarrior thank you - I went through last year’s electronic diary in search of hints as well!

@LillianGish Thank you for the positivity. There is something rather nice about dusting, washing and generally caring for the things that one has worked hard to purchase. Lovely snaps. I don’t know that courtyard - my “local” (apart from the canal st martin) was the Jardin de l’hôpital St Louis.

Enjoyed a short but lovely walk this afternoon - the first proper one for three weeks whilst she's been recovering for DDog she was absolutely joyous 😊 @HornungTheHelpful hope your DDog is okay 🤞. Was up a bit late this morning so have just read today's Chapter I love it - I'm a list lover too - I have a sparkly gold notebook that I've been using for several years to write my Christmas lists in - I love looking back through each year - reminds me of the different things the children have liked at various stages - its nearly run out though so think I might have to get a shiny new one for this year. @Bimblesalong do you recommend any particular candles from Aldi? If anyone has a beauty pie subscription I'm currently burning the bitter orange candle and it's absolutely lovely - everyone in the house likes it too which is a bonus.

Feeling awful today but I've made myself sort the kitchen out, made a leek soup and my mincemeat.

@Bimblesalong so sorry about your dear old boy 😢 and @HornungTheHelpful hope all went well for your little chap at the vet 🤞

We lost both our DDogs in the past couple of years (one in 2023, the other in 2024 - both aged eleven which wasn't old, imo), and so far we really can't face welcoming another...maybe if we ever finally finish this blooming project!

I'm afraid I've taken my eye off the ball Nigel-wise, but plan to catch up later today with something alcoholic and a bit of Christmas cake (sadly Waitrose mini slices, as I can't imagine trying to bake one in the airfryer!). I'm also hoping to try the leek and sausage recipe over the next week or two.

DH went to a local car boot sale yesterday and came back with some paperwhite bulbs (which I've planted up this morning in an antique bowl - VN 😁) plus a box of vintage (1930s, he thinks) Christmas crackers. Like Nigel he has a passion for vintage baubles etc and he also collects Christmas books. I just hope the cottage is in a fit enough state for the trees he's planning to put up around 16th Dec as currently the flipping temporary tap is in the way of one 🤣

I'm snuggled under a blanket with a hot water bottle whilst more demolition goes on upstairs!