Well we did baking so now onto some craft

OK so there will be the kitchen section - with all the useful stuff about making Christmas cakes by now so they have time to mature by Christmas (favorite family Christmas cake recipes anyone?)

My daughters have been unimpressed with early Christmas decorations in the mall but I must admit that at least it gets me thinking about the plan for the season. My favorite site coming up to Christmas has got to be Organized Christmas - unfortunately with each passing year it gets more ads but there are some wonderful ideas there underneath the Americanisms. I particularly like a planning task for around this time of the year where you think about what went well and not so well the year before and think of areas you want to focus on.

However every year I get caught in the trap of the Christmas craft magazines - the Christmas quilting and cross stitch magazines have an irresistible lure that sucks me in every time. Not only that but they are the ones I find hardest to throw away. It was no different this year - I even commented to the newsagent that I had to overcome the addiction as I never actually got to do the projects (and in this case I'm not convinced my newly balanced lifestyle will make much difference) However his response to my joking comment about contributing to his profits was a really insightful question in the context. He asked me if I enjoyed reading them and when I said I did, he suggested that maybe they had served there purpose well for that alone. So this year I am going to just enjoy the browsing and not create a mental list of all the things I am going to make.

Choosing how to use effort wisely is a much under recognised skill.

To begin at the beginning....

First there was the chatting with my daughter and her friends about "nana crafts", cupcakes, and sewing. Then there was the dream of a shop where all those things could be bought together and shared.

There was the dinner conversation ... a conversation that touched on many things but included some one-on-one between me and our hostess on the topics of childbirth and breastfeeding. I had just that day taken a risk on a presentation on a parent perspective on ICT and education which I had ended with a historic clip from 1965 with a voice over interview of my son interviewing his grandad. And an earlier presentation on websites had experienced a minor sidetrack as we discussed beautiful children's books.
Then I went out to visit my sister - who runs a great local store and cafe almost but not quite in the middle of nowhere. There is handmade soap, local art, groceries and ...lattes!

And I wondered - where have all the wise woman gone? Where does this generation go to learn the skills that were once the domain of frugal, crafty older women? Where do mothers who may only have one or two babies get supported and comforted with the pragmatics of experience? Where do they hear the wider story which once were de-cried as old wives tales.

When I write and edit, when I structure information I draw on the experiences of my own family and the hundreds of families I have worked with in voluntary and employed capacities. And I am constantly testing it against "is this real?" "will it be meaningful?". Without meaning to I have become one of the "wise women"

And because my skills lie in web and information I decided today to create a space - a wise woman space - for women to share and learn from each other.

Sonja