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!

It’s just wet and grey here. There is an outside chance of some snow on Thursday, but I won’t be holding my breath.

Having just moved from
the south east to what is officially the midlands I suppose, I am wildly jealous of your snow!

Sending warmth from the Caribbean! Having moved here 7 years ago, I do miss the winter and waking up to pictures from family and friends back in the UK of the snow is making me feel quite nostalgic this morning. This is such a lovely thread to read and has definitely inspired me to do something crafty this morning after dropping DS at school.

Hello Nigelistas, just outing myself as another huge fan of this thread, though there always comes a point when it runs away from me. Going to try my hardest to keep up this time as your beautiful updates keep me going through the slog and stress. A special wave to @LatteLady, whom I suspect may have been taught by my late great aunt in the 1970s judging by an earlier remark. I hope she wasn't too much of a terror! (My aunt not you 😉)

Freezing and very windy here but coastal location means we barely ever get snow. I've taken refuge in M&S cafe, might check the shelves for Nigelesque stuff after my capp.

@leporello Was your great aunt a teacher at a Convent in Westcliff-on-sea? And which subject... I am on tenterhooks over here! My godmother was a teacher at Westcliff High for Girls, had taught at the Convent in 1950s but was a holy terror and very scary at both schools...

@LatteLady , she was a Bernardine Cistercian nun, taught at Westcliff - her subject was Maths but ultimately she was a sort of overseeing headteacher there and at the convent in Slough. They were all Sister Mary somethings, but her second name began with an L...

@Hendiadys oh no! I hope your heating is fixed soon.

@frozendaisy I am feeling a bit smug as I have just finished a big declutter. Six bin bags waiting for charity collection today!

@leporello I can only think of Sr Mary Lucy, who became Reverend Mother at Westcliff... the only other Math's nun at Westcliff was Sr M Joseph... who stalked the corridors, crocheting blankets!

If it was Sr M Lucy... I have memories of her breakfast being wheeled into her office each morning, set out on an embroidered cloth on a tray, with a boiled egg, toast and a pot of tea.

Icy puddles and frosty pavements in my corner of Scotland- but have seen a few cars with snow piled on the roofs so it can't be far away.

Heading into the Edinburgh Christmas markets later today, and will catch up with CC this evening after that - hopefully creating a festive glow and keeping it going...

An incredible result. Very well done Scotland. I just hope that Wales get through the play offs.

Oh how I'd love to be in the Caribbean right now @cocoya Although we have hit the heady heights of 2 degrees here now and the snow has now thawed here.

I've had a morning of making up candle and soap orders. I'm now feeling like I need a declutter, but I've also just bought the paint to paint my cracket stool. Maybe just a quick cup of tea, first, then tackle a bit of both.

Hello - thank you for redirecting me @RainbowZebraWarrior , I'll be back this evening but wanted to post so that I remember to come here instead of the first thread.

It snowed in London for a full 10 mins and I made everyone who is in the office go and look at it... For some reason, the quiet did not follow, but I live in hope!

That was her, @LatteLady ! What a great memory about the breakfast, I will have to tell my aunts.

She retired to a retreat house in the Cotswolds and I have to say, the lifestyle there was VVN indeed! Lashings of kitchen gardening, seasonal cookery, meditation and, of course, a shedload of candles .

Coming back to report that the snow has totally disappeared, and it’s now sunny 🤔

However, I cunningly got round the broken heating problem by spending the morning in the warm kitchen making the Christmas cake.

Always a good way to get warm!

Snowing again here. Since 5am we've had rain, sleet, hail, snow, ice, snow, rain. Then back to snow again. Its going to freeze tonight I'm guessing.

That will have been Brownshill in the Cotswolds.. so now, might be a good time to share some Advent memories of the Convent. This was all post Vatican II, hemlines went up, veils grew smaller and the nuns got a car! Sr M Lucy, was best friends with Sr M Stephen, they had been at school together and were trouble (if you knew, you knew). Sr M Stephen was the DeputyHead at that time, and was in charge of the Advent coat hanger and tinsel arrangement as seen on Blue Peter. So, without a fire extinguisher in sight, it would have a candle lit each Friday afternoon at 4:00pm.

The nuns were not supposed to receive physical gifts, so the school gave them a Modern Language Carol Concert, and if you press me I can sing phonetically, Das ist eine rose esprungen but all of the french carols can be released by a couple of notes of intro... I shocked my knitting colleagues with a quick rendition of Guillaume prend ton tambourin, last year. Even the Latin teacher, a terrifying creature got in on the act when Gaudete entered the charts.

In true Sound of Music fashion, the nuns each had their own ring on the bells and could be summoned down to Reverend Mother by a bell which hung on the nun's stair case, which only they were allowed to use, or the girls on their last day in school. @leporello the nuns at school were known as penguins, they ate separately from us, but after lunch, they would sit up in the nuns garden and would have an early afternoon perambulation led by your aunt and known colloquially as the penguin patrol.

It is cold but with a clear blue sky here. I wonder if the aurora will treat us at all, now that we have clear skies to see it ...

I tried to post my nephew's birthday card yesterday but before I had walked 50 yards down the road I was soaked to the skin through coat and hat by a biblical downpour. This lasted an hour! I've not yet been out and about but there will be a fair bit of flooding locally.

The builders have been to screed the kitchen floor today, so we can't walk on it. It may be ready to go on by teatime, otherwise it will be a pub meal! Getting there.

This is brilliant stuff, @LatteLady ! I love it! Yes, Brownshill was where she lived out her days to the age of 94, and there are older nuns than her still there - longevity seems built into the lifestyle. We all knew Mary Stephen v well, and Mary Vincent and a bunch of other Maries .

In the summer holidays we would often have big family gatherings, usually at Slough but once at Westcliff - fantastic weekends with tennis courts etc. all to ourselves and my cousins and I would take over the stage to perform song and dance extravaganzas (which must have required some level of patience to sit through). Wonderful memories and we still pop over to Brownshill from time to time for a catch up even though my aunt is no longer with us.

Sorry for the thread hijack but this has been a lovely diversion for me. Would it be more in the spirit of the thread to mention that DD1 has just got a batch of home baked vegan jam tarts out of the oven? Hopefully! Something warm for the bitter weather.

@LatteLady and @leporello your lovely posts are giving me wonderful 'In This House of Brede' vibes

Well I've enjoyed the nun stories! The only nuns I ever came across were the dragons from my nursery school, dreadful women, and a very distant American relative called Sister Jane who spent a lot of time driving on the highways chatting to truckers on the radio, she had some cracking stories to share 😅

I nipped into the chemists and saw these candles so bought a couple seeing as they're made more or less locally. Cinnamon and orange & Fir forest. They're very pretty when lit and so far I like the smell.

@AlicePottery love the photobombing cat!

The nun stories are fascinating.

How lovely to have linked Nuns appear on the thread!
I could also do with a bit of Caribbean sun just now @cocoya. I feel ropy :( and we are due to fly to Krakow early on Friday. I’m throwing everyone at it. Medicine. Turmeric infusions. Steam. A very hot Indonesian curry. We just want a nice weekend away!! (I know it’s a nice problem to have and I’m luck to be going at all).

Very pretty candles @AlicePottery

I live there , which area are you heading for as unfortunately these days it's not quiet anymore . If your coming to any hotspots you are going to be surprised I'm afraid .
Enjoy your stay .