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!

Thank you for the well wishes, I'm feeling a bit less heady and heavy today. It's the first time I've been ill since having pneumonia in June (ran a half marathon in May, had pneumonia in June!) so have been feeling a little worried about how this cold was going to turn out. 🤞it is on the way out.

We've road works outside the house, water works in fact. The poor chaps were working until 9:30 last night, in the pouring rain. Littlest DC was enthralled, and was sat in our room, on the window seat, watching them. It was so, so noisy though, and a blessed relief when they finally stopped. They are already back now 😬

I love reading about all the places that you live or have experienced. We've got 2 weeks until the hoardes descend on the city for our Christmas market.

My day yesterday was a mix of RNVN (REALLY), as I had a mooch around Home Bargins, and picked up some cheap and cheerful candles. But also, rather N, as I took the long walk to pick up the children from school, and did get to walk through the wood.

It makes me feel so much more alive, walking through a natural landscape.

It has been a dank, murky, miserable day, and today promises to be more of the same.

@RainbowZebraWarriorit's today's entry that put me off (veggie) 😅

Meal planning is the bane of my life. We have two picky eaters in the house and then Dh who I would call a snobby eater-though he is getting better at deigning to eat ‘normal’
dinners instead of fancy ones, which is what our schedule allows for most of the time.
We had sort of crispy beef Chinese ish tray bake last night (which I got from Instagram as it goes) and it was a huge hit.

two very wet and soggy days on the farm so we started Christmas crafting in earnest.Lots of twigs being spray painted for various crafty things and oranges being sliced for the dehydrator to be turned into garlands and wreaths which we sell in the shop.
My trusty wellies started leaking-dh has got me some new ones for my birthday but I don’t think I will be able to get to December with soggy feet.

Day off today so I’m off to get my lashes lifted and tinted (needed as I’ve recently and randomly become allergic to all mascara) and then to meet a woman from a ‘new to the area’ group I joined on Facebook. Hopefully she will be nice as I know no one here and it’s a bit lonely. If not I will get a nice trip to a bougie garden centre out of it so a win either way.

With re Christmas ads I’m seething slightly at the JL one. DH’s favourite song is Where Love Lives and I bought him a big print of it a few years ago for our wedding anniversary. Now everyone will think we have jumped on the JL bandwagon 😁. I might sue them for theft of my intellectual property!

We are of off to Krakow next Friday for our anniversary. A week too early for the Christmas market annoyingly but I’m hoping it will feel
festive all the same.

have a lovely Wednesday all

Your DC watching the workmen reminded me of DD1 who used to wait at the window every week to wave at the bin men and they used to wave back-it became a real thing and one of them used to put on funny hats and things sometimes to make her laugh. She is 20 now and sometimes I miss her being 3 so much it hurts :(

Ou DD also has ups and downs with picky eating. The height of it being nursery years. She decided she hated so many foods she loved before joining the nursery. Ironically, despite all the pickiness she loved Ottolenghi recipes. 🤷‍♀️ She always makes noises when hearing mention spicy food, but if she’s just given it without mentioning spices she loves it. DD now is 11 and has come around quite a bit. Still haven’t managed to get her eating berries, she literally wouldn’t touch any berries, none!

My Christmas lady candle was delivered yesterday and she’s a beauty. So much so I can’t imagine lighting it. I will have words with myself…

@Strawberryfield12 my daughter was the same- ate absolutely everything until she started nursery. So frustrating! She's getting a lot better though.

I don't like the JL Christmas ad. I really dislike the breathy singing thing. Why spoil perfectly good songs!

I've only seen one Christmas ad so far, the one with Wallace and Gromit which I liked. I'll have to look out for the others as some years they make for excellent teaching resources (I teach English in France). A few years ago the Mog one for Sainsburys was perfect to get the kids narrating it 😀

Not feeling very festive right now as am having a long covid flare up after doing too much over the past few days (I accompanied 130 pupils to the remembrance day ceremony which went on for a very long time).

Oh yes @Strawberryfield12the lady is a thing of beauty!

I have bought my first st eval candle orange and cinnamon. I had earmarked a candle I’d bought at a craft fair for my Nigel candle .
i am wrapping presents today I’ve been through my Christmas decorations and decluttered them so a trip to the charity shop is needed.

My DD also used to do this when she was 2 / 3 years old! She would stand on the windowsill waving like mad. She's 14 next week and she talks about how she feels she lost some of her childhood due to the Pandemic and missing so much school. I also miss that carefree 3 year old. She's also given herself shocking acid reflux by eating tinned plum tomatoes with spaghetti and drinking tropicana daily for months. It's had me absolutely up the wall, but at least she's finally realised that she has to have more variety. She lost so many valuable options whe went veggie a year ago. I absolutely commend her choice, but it's also been a nightmare as she doesn't eat veg barring carrots and cucumber in her lunch box. Cooking spaghetti and tomatoes every night for months has been utterly depressing. Anyway, it is what it is and we take any small wins where we can. Her Geography teacher came running out of school this morning to ask if she'd told me about her top marks in yesterday's assessment. She had 😊

Sorry to hear about your flare up @AlicePottery I have EDS so a lot of very similar symptoms to long covid. The damp weather and dark nights seem to make everything harder, and I have to manage my Spoons very closely. I'm trying to get my steps in every day, as if I do too little, I suffer, and if I do too much, then I suffer more. The only thing that works for me is do a job, lie down for 10 mins, next job, lie down and repeat all day. I set alarms hourly and do one small thing each hour with 10 mins lie down at the end of each hour. Totally appreciate that you can't do this in a classroom!

Sorry. That was a right waffle on!

Anyway. There were some pretty spectacular coronal mass ejections earlier this week and they have now hit our atmosphere. We had an amazing display of Aurora here in Whitley Bay late last night. There stats are also looking good for tonight as long as the weather behaves itself. Do look to the North after dark if you have clear skies.

Not my photo, but from a group I belong to; the photographers name is accredited on the image. Fingers crossed for more this evening!

Fab photo @RainbowZebraWarrior . Living in the south west, we rarely get aurora. Last time we did, there were a lot of concerned people posting on the local Facebook page, worrying that the nearby nuclear power station was leaking!

I agree that ads are such a useful resource @AlicePottery . I used to use the M and S food ads a lot with my Y3 class when talking about descriptive language.

I've had such a lovely morning. We have a real Xmas tree every year and we went to choose it. Wre always make this a big event. We go to a little farm that is tucked away in the middle of nowhere. The farmer fills any pockets of not productive land by planting Xmas trees. So you walk around the farm choosing a tree and when you've decided you tie a label on it with your name on and the date you'd like to collect it. Then it stays happily growing in the ground until it's time. We always go with friends, have a lovely walk, then go back to some one's house for hot chocolate with all the works. It's a lovely social occasion.

Oh that sounds magical @Confusedmeanderings I did something similar once in a forest in North Yorkshire when I had a much bigger house. I rely on the 20 footer in my front garden these days for my real Christmas tree fix. It was planted out from a tiny one in a pot 14 years ago when DD was a baby.

Speaking of Christmas trees, NT Cragside have now decorated theirs. It's the tallest living tree in the UK and well worth a visit if anyone is in the NE England area.

Aurora were reported all over the UK last night, so you never know. The Glendale App is a good one to follow if you want alerts.

Now I want to go and tie a label on a Christmas tree!

I’ve just seen the Waitrose Christmas add and I feel stalked! I met my husband in Waitrose in very similar circumstances (except we both reached for the same wine and then moaned about how expensive it was-not as in the advert, cheese). Actually made me a bit tearful 🫣. I don’t look much like Keira Knightley however.

@KittyRannaldini i feel your pain with the breathy singing. I listened to something recently and thought they could do with a proper singing lesson. My choir master would have been unimpressed if we’d all gasped audibly between lines!

@AlicePottery I have lost too many spoons at the Remembrance Service, too. I tend not to go anymore, as standing still is the worst thing for me.

I’m out and about tonight so will be looking north. I got a gorgeous picture a year or two ago. I was looking for the northern lights, but got a weird photo of autumn leaves reflecting car lights that turned out to be beautiful.

Hope everyone has found something to heal the ills today
very jealous of northern lights it’s so cloudy here wouldn’t matter if Zeus himself appeared, so annoying being just a tiny touch (globally speaking) further south and very little fun happens in the sky.

Partridge is just too Nigel for this household.

I am sure our offering this evening is not at all Nigel
Pork belly
egg fried rice
homemade Chinese curry sauce (it has carrot and apple in it)

I don’t eat meat so just add bits of meat for the others.

And I need chillies/garlis more often than CC caters for.

Just in from work and sitting down with a huge mocha and CC. I've tried using the St Eval candles as wax melts to see if they smell that way.

Chicken soup for dinner tonight (partridge rather hard to come by in these parts) with potatoes, carrots and peas in it. And jam tarts, requested by the child.

I can't edit my post for some reason but using the candle as a melt is working!

@PrizedPickledPopcorn and @RainbowZebraWarrior I flipping hate having to work out how to juggle spoons. Im getting better at through trial and A LOT of error. I have a similar system of alternating between doing things for 30 mins and resting for 5 minutes. I think if I'd been walking it would have been OK, but it really was just standing still for over 2 hours. I don't know how people who have to stand up all day for their jobs do it.
It's cloudy here too so I don't think we'll get to see the lights, apparently the best time of day is around 4 am so I might make the most of my perimenopausal sleep pattern and get up to have a look.

Everyone’s dinners sound good. I don’t know what we’re having yet.

I’m so fed up with juggling spoons, @AlicePottery @RainbowZebraWarrior
I’m upping my meds at the moment in the hope of something improving. Sob.

Still. I have candles and food aplenty so I shouldn’t grumble.

@Confusedmeanderings love your Christmas tree tradition how lovely 🎄 @piscofrisco your work activities sound lovely but soggy feet do not!!! I hope you get your wellies early and your meet up went well must be hard being in a new area. Grey and wet here and little to no chance of seeing anything exciting in the sky tonight. Think I'll start making our NVN dinner of lasagne - however everyone will eat it and there will be enough leftovers that I won't have to cook after work tomorrow which is a bonus! Debating lighting the fire 🔥

Freezer tea for us. Even Nigel must have a fish finger sandwich sometimes ?
My meet up went ok-will see the same woman as part of a bigger group on Sunday but hopefully made the beginnings of a friend. Managed to spend £49 in the garden centre on Christmas frippery and a winter thyme candle whcih I’ve got on now and it smells very strong (I wonder if you had a duffer @KittyRannaldini?)
dd1 and have been for our regular Wednesday afternoon walk around Burghley house this afternoon. We are making salt dough ornaments later to adorn a sort of festive branch im planning.

@piscofrisco possibly! It smells amazing melted so I'm not sure why it didn't when I burnt it.

I will give you a little imaginary wave on Friday!

Another day with too much time in front of a laptop screen, and only getting out once it was dark, but I enjoyed a blustery walk.

I do eat some meat, but Nigel is particularly carnivorous today, isn't he? He would absolutely not approve of my diet today which has been mainly microwave rice and bananas (not together).

Well in the good news pile, I went to a retirement lunch yesterday, our Chief Exec's EA is retiring and the Directors' EAs took her out for lunch, it was a hoot... we started on the fizz and it went downhill from there as we all shared our stories about previous jobs... and lunchtime drinking!

I also got hold of a copy of Delia's Christmas book, I sadly lost the autographed copy that I queued for in JLP Oxford St... but this brings back the memories of tracking down different coloured glace cherries for the ? Carribean Christmas cake... along with candied angelica.

Couple of interesting packages but not my CrowdFarming veg box, which was allegedly delivered... much muttering until I woke up at 2:00am and remembered I had just recharged the Ring doorbell, and there as clear as day was the driver walking away with it... in the immortal words of Jim Royle, "Delivered, my arse!" A missive was despatched.

And finally, I spent last night sewing the backs onto the hoops which should appear below... just a few more to complete but should be done for the weekend, when I can focus on my Christmas tree quilt and get ready for my Advent knitting.