The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles readalong 2025 - Part 2

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Hello all, and welcome to Part 2. We Continue our CC journey.

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 began on 1st November.

We continue to read along and comment with the book which is set out in diary form. I will make a post each day (or let you know if there is no entry on a particular day)

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.

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 love your Goshawk @Celiathebanshee!
@martha79I think all there is for it is the old Victorian cure type things: rest, fresh air, wholesome simple food…. DH is still abed with his scarlet fever and now dd1 is poorly and so we continue with our roundabout of illness… what id really like is for us all to be sent to some sort of Victorian style rest home by the sea or a spa town so we could take the waters and get well. Does that still exist in any form that doesn’t cost 9 million pounds? If it doesn’t someone should open one-I feel it would be very popular!
Sending prayers for your knee @RainbowZebraWarriorknees are tricky to heal because they are such a mobile part iyswim!

Im going round in circles re the job and now I must bloody reply to the job offer as its already been a day and it looks sketchy to not do so. Ugh. I can’t even talk it through with dh properly as he is at this point a touch delirious with fever and is feeling a bit unusual having been bed bound for So long so wouldn’t give a reasoned or sensible view.
On the upside I had my hair done yesterday (long overdue) and for once I’m very pleased with it-gone for a sort of bronde shade-bit darker than I normally have and it’s turned out quite nicely.
I’m sure the sheep and cows at work will appreciate it anyway-any attempt at glamour is wasted on the farm 😁
Have a lovely Friday all

@piscofrisco but glamour is set off by a pair of wellies, so I bet you look awesome.

I’m very impressed with everyone’s creative talents.

It’s early for New Year’s resolutions, and I never do them anyway, but I’d like to arrive at next year’s thread a bit more accomplished and a stone lighter 🤣. That’s half a pound a week.

Gosh @piscofrisco that sounds like a lot going on especially with DH so poorly and one of your DDs. Didn't you have loads of Christmas stuff booked, too?

All I can say is TFI Friday.

Also, Public Service Announcement: If anyone booked a Waitrose / Ocado christmas order months ago and secured the slot with the proverbial couple of bottles of champagne, last day for updating Christmas food is 15th (well it is for Waitrose anyway) I've just done mine, and had already put my turkey etc on there as naturally some of the Christmas lines are already sold out.

@piscofrisco I yearn to be sent off for a Victorian-style convalescence, I'm sure it'd do me a lot of good. I haven't found an alternative that isn't very expensive - trying to DIY bits of it but I would absolutely pay for someone to look after/ cook for me/ tell me what to do for a couple of weeks.

Doing a few bits of wrapping and writing cards today, and about to get under a blanket on the sofa with the latest few chapters of CC.

Quite cosy, if a little difficult to turn the pages.

I love the Christmas tree chapters. Indeed I love that moment when the tree goes up - I think I love the run up to Christmas almost more than the event itself! I love coming in and smelling the tree and I love sitting in the glow of the lights knowing there is everything to look forward to yet without being in the frenzy of it. The calm before the storm if you like. Having the tree up also spurs me on to do all things Christmassy and makes me feel as if the holidays have started early. So sorry to hear about DDog @AlicePottery - he looks like a cheeky little chap. So happy to hear your DD is doing well at school @RainbowZebraWarrior - I remember the stress of her having to move and I’m keeping everything crossed that your knee is not fractured. I am ahead of the game re today’s entry as I have already made my Christmas chutney - Delia’s spiced apricot (sorry Nigel).

Beautiful pics and tree @LillianGish I keep refreshing Nigel's Instagram in the hope of seeing his up soon.

I had 9 x-rays in the end today on my left leg as the GP seems fairly convinced I've damaged something. The pain radiates up my femur and down into my tib and fib. The brusing goes down my entire shin as well as my knee and having specialised in injuries myself I know something ain't right. I am also That Person who walked around with a dislocated neck for 2 days after a car accident..

Anyway, hope everyone is safe and warm this evening. I'll be lighting the stove soon and it will be an early night tonight I think.

Ours went up last night. But dinky but I like it!

Ouch @RainbowZebraWarrior your poor leg.

Lovely tree @HornungTheHelpful!

I got up to date with Nigel, then dozed off and ended up napping for about two hours. Up in time for a walk at sunset, admiring other people's Christmas decorations - there's some really lovely 'old school' trees around.

We did @RainbowZebraWarriorand most of it this weekend :( so it seems I will be doing it solo with whichever children are fit.
sorry about your knee? Will they ring you with results?

lovely trees all!

maybe I will start the convalescent home-I feel I could get the funding on Dragons den.

A busy and festive day on the farm. I’ve attached a picture of our ‘pet’ sheep, Clover. She was due to be sent for mutton with the rest of the older Ewes this summer but she is so tame and cuddly that staff and farmers launched a protest to keep her, so now she lives in Home field with one of her lambs (now a sheep) where we can play with her every day. She enjoyed posing for this picture, though I had had to rescue her from eating the tinsel a few minutes before!

Lovely floofy poos-cat @martha79 my Mr Darcy says Meow to a fellow feline that likes to get in the way of reading Nigel.

Ah @piscofrisco bless you. I look back at last year's thread every day and literally this time last year, four out of six of you were poorly and you had tickets to the theatre in London I believe. All hail the wonderful Clover and hurrah for her reprieve.

Lady Aurora is dancing tonight if you're in more Northerly parts. Here's a screenshot from Burrafirth cam in Shetland.

Yes! My diary tells me the same. Un-bloody-believable!

How can you even consider leaving your job @piscofrisco when you have Clover there with you every day. Best photo ever - the expression on her face and the tinsel! One look at that photo and surely the decision is made?

13 December

Broth and bones.

Coming in from the cold
I have been working in the garden, digging mostly, planting scented white narcissi in soil the colour of wet tobacco. White tulips too, in old terracotta pots for the spring. My hands are scratched. The ground is heavy and sodden, and every step is like wading through treacle. The sun, a watery orange-pink seen through witch black trees, is sliding down towards the earth much like my wet socks have ruckled down my boots. It takes an age to get them off, standing first on one leg, then on the other outside the kitchen door, determined not to traipse any more mud inside the house than absolutely necessary.

Good morning to all.
Today’s entry has got me thinking that I must pot up some Tulips. It will be a fully potted garden for me this year having moved to our rented house (where the garden is frankly awful with plastic grass and bamboo everywhere) and left my lovely big wild garden behind. I miss it more than I can say. I will be livid if our tenants ruin it. I think they will mow my little wild flower meadow at the bottom for sure and this year it would have been properly lovely at last. Not that we will probably go back there at all but still. If anyone has any tips for things that grow well in pots then Im all ears.
@LillianGish I am veering more towards staying at the farm. Disastrous financially, time and career wise really but it brings me so much joy. Heart versus head I suppose. And as you say, who would feed Clover (the best sheep in the world) her treats? (Well loads of people actually but I would miss her and the 200 hens I’m in charge of, and the co farmers, immeasurably). DH is feeling slightly better I think-his temperature is finally down some. So maybe we can talk about it over the weekend sensibly.
DSS’s and I off to winter wonderland in Chelsea (not The Hyde Park version) this afternoon. I fear it will be expensive, a bit of a trek (and probably as awful as The Hyde park one but somehow it being at the old Chelsea barracks makes it feel more Nigel 😂). DH is nowhere near enough better to come and DD1 is also now struggling so not quite the family festive day we had planned. This morning I plan to fix my wreath which has become a bit disheveled in the wind this week and put all the stuff back in the newly painted front room. Plus a dog walk and a bit of general cleaning and tidying up as no one has done much this week and the house is like a bomb site. So I suppose I must get up and get going.
Wishing You all a lovely Saturday

Good morning lovely people.
Have been away from the thread last week or so due to doing some festive things last weekend and then work suddenly turning crazy busy last week. So I am having a lazy Saturday morning, still in bed with a candle on.

Really sorry to read about different type of struggles so many of you are going through right now. Majority of people say they love the run up to Christmas more than the event itself, I do too, but oftentimes life is a mix of things, even if it’s days before Christmas.

Last week we went to Denis Severs house in Shoreditch for a silent Christmas tour. Very Nigel indeed. Have any of you visited it? It’s full of so many details, it has left me thinking about it still a week later. The fact that no one was allowed to talk during the tour made it magical, but at the same time there were moments I wished I could say something to DD. Instead it was pointing fingers to things.

This weekend is going to be mooching around the house and decorating the Christmas cake before we head off to Paris next weekend.

Every December I think how much I like just sitting in the living room with the tree and candle on, and how little time I get to do that because of all the Christmas related activities I book for us to do. But at the same time I am also very conscious that the reason I like those moments on the sofa is because they are rare enough.

Good morning all 😊

I've contributed very little this year but am thoroughly enjoying reading the thread. I've taken to listening to the book this year, on a weekend morning with a cuppa, very relaxing.

@RainbowZebraWarrior I think you shared your biscotti recipe last year but I didn't write it down - I don't suppose you have it to hand & would share again? Dd2 has requested more 😋.

I just saw it the other day (looking back at last year's thread) I'll go and fund it and post it for you my lovely

Good Morning to you all and very best wishes to all those who are struggling in some way.

Just a cheering little story, my son in law plays Father Christmas every year at my DGS primary school, every year so far he has had some strange present requests, this year a reception child asked for 'a pretty small green ball' and an older child asked for 'a really long python' 😂FC had to think pretty quickly on the latter and said he would have to ask the chief elf if carrying livestock was allowed on the sleigh.

Here you go @lucysmam

https://thedeblicious.wordpress.com/tag/nigella-lawson-biscotti/

Morning all
We have a full house of good cooking today

7 teens, 2 are our ours so they have to be here I suppose
and the others are all quite sweet so it will be chaos but lovely

to make some “basic” burritos I am making
beef strips
chicken strips
refried beans (the beans have soaked over night and we have a pressure cooker which helps)
guacamole
Mexican green rice
ancho chilli sauce
and maybe salsa if I can be bothered
I buy the wraps and sour cream!

they seem to like it here most I might hang up the Christmas jigsaws of yesteryear in “their lounge” do willing - I mainly but anyone can join in, do one Christmas challenging jigsaw a year, one jigsaw a year I mean, then glue it together and it gets added to the collection and we hang them up like paintings - this is the extent of our decorations apart from the tree and a candle or two!

I think company and food is very Nigel but fun boisterous hungry teens - I don’t know less so!

Thanks so much! I'm going to try the Anja Dunk recipe again too, but remember it being very wet 🤔 and remember yours coming to the rescue!

Afternoon all

@thebabessavedme love Santa's quick thinking there!

This weekend is all Christmas concerts for me - today's is in a lovely big church (I think Nigel would like it) but the area is NVN - our only choices for pre-performance food are McDonald's and a Wetherspoons (both best avoided if there's been football on locally).

Hello! I have been all over the place with reading both the book and the thread but now I have a bit of time to myself I am catching up!

Office Christmas party is on Wednesday. Last year I made Nigel's orange and poppy seed cake, but this year I have (tried) made lebkuchen. They look nice but I think they have too much spice, hope other people like them!

Busy day, Christmassing. Candied peel, the base for the fruit cake (finally), grape jam, with candied ginger still to go. Finally sitting down after a bit of a marathon session. Making the ginger and the cake tomorrow. 😅 I’ve been desperate to get to this all December. DH was pushing decorations, we had some visits to do, and a bit of planning. So finally got to the satisfying part today! Yay!