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Christmas traditions; Digital nun; Childless by circumstance

Your favourite Christmas traditions; In the kitchen with the digital nun; Coping with the festivities when you're childless by circumstance, not choice. Jane Garvey presents.

Call Woman's Hour on 03700 100 444 to share your favourite Christmas traditions. We want to hear about the little rituals and customs, however strange or unconventional, that make your Christmas so special.

Time for something a little more spiritual in our kitchen series as we meet Sister Catherine Wybourne, also known as the digital nun, who lives in a community of Benedictine nuns in Herefordshire.

And how to make the most of Christmas as a childless woman with Jody Day, who runs a support group for women who wanted children but have none. She has suggestions on coping with family assumptions and pressures, including how to enjoy being an aunt without turning into a childcare martyr and how to think about your own sadness at a time when you might be continually told 'it's all about the children'.

Presenter: Jane Garvey
Producer: Ruth Watts
Editor: Karen Dalziel.

Available now

58 minutes

Chapters

  • Jody Day

    Jane talks to Jody Day, about dealing with a family Christmas if you are childless.

    Duration: 05:24

  • Digitial Nun - Sister Catherine Wybourne

    Henrietta Harrison visits the kitchen of Benedictine nun, Nun Sister Catherine Wybourne.

    Duration: 09:01

  • Phone-in on your Christmas Traditions

    We hear about your Christmas Traditions, rituals & customs, that make Christmas special.

    Duration: 20:10

Christmas traditions

Listeners share theirÌýfavourite Christmas traditions. WeÌýhear about the little rituals and customs, however strange or unconventional, that make your Christmas so special.

Ìý

Call us on 03700 100 444 to share your stories.

Digital Nun

Digital Nun

Sister Catherine Wybourne is a Benedictine nun who lives in a community in Herefordshire and who carries out part of her ministry through twitter as . For the last in our series visiting women in their kitchens, our reporter Henrietta Harrison visited Sister Catherine to find out more about living under the rule of .

How to deal with a family Christmas if you are childless

Jody Day runs a – women who wanted to have children but haven’t.ÌýThe last time she was on talking about her book ‘Rocking the Life Unexpected’ we were inundated with messages from women who were in the same situation.ÌýOn Christmas Eve she joins Jane Garvey to talk about how to make the most of Christmas as a childless woman.ÌýHow to deal with your parents’ assumptions, or disappointment; how to enjoy being an aunt without turning into a childcare martyr and how to think about your own sadness at a time when you might be continually told ’it's all about the children’.

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Jane Garvey
Interviewed Guest Catherine Wybourne
Interviewed Guest Jody Day
Producer Ruth Watts
Editor Karen Dalziel

Broadcast

  • Christmas Eve 2013 10:00

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