Home for the Holidays
As the holiday season is well underway, I am sure you may be busy decorating, shopping, baking, wrapping gifts, and maybe, if you are like me, stressing yourself over all that is left to be done. But most of this, if not all of it revolves around the home. Home for the Holidays is the center of most peoples’ holidays. Children coming home for a visit from college, long anticipated reunions, family making arrangements from near and far. Home for the Holidays, while a good movie theme, is also
one that our lives are made up of. It matters not what you celebrate at this time of the year, maybe religious, maybe partying, but whichever the theme is still the same – Getting together at Home for the Holidays.
But this year may be different. If you have a dementia, or Alzheimer’s, patient at home you may be looking at the holidays as much more of a strain. Feels like more responsibility, more things that need management, in your hurried holiday crunch. How will you manage it all?
Let’s step back for a moment and think about what that means to you – Home for the Holidays. Do you remember coming home from college, the anticipation of meeting with old friends and maybe old
Home for the Holidays
flames? What did you most look forward to? You remember, before these things became all your responsibility? You wanted to hang out in the kitchen with your mom or grandma and talk gossip and what’s up, baking up a storm just like the old days. Or maybe you and your siblings always had a great time picking out gifts together for your parents. Some of us liked to ditch the family time after awhile and spend it with friends just hanging out, but in the end you came home and sat up into the wee hours with your mom telling her every little detail. Or maybe you are reminded of a special Holiday gift you received one year as a youngster. Oh, the memories! Each are personal to the members of that family.
Home for the Holidays May Be Different This Year
Now things have changed. Mom may be the one who’s been diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s. It doesn’t seem the same. It’s hard to face. She may not even remember you. That’s often a hard pill to swallow. But here’s maybe a challenge you can take on this year. Take those memories and recreate them. That’s what we like to do for the Holidays anyway. Take those old decorations out of the dusty attic and share them with your mom. Bring the shopping home to her. Bring out the photo albums and sit down with her to reminisce. Bring her into the kitchen when you are baking. Ask her to be involved as much as she can. Sometimes these memories will not only help bring her back a
Home for the Holidays
little but it will also revive your own memories, and maybe your own true reason for the season.
We never know what will trigger an aging mind. But do you think it might be worth a shot, even if just for you. I think you will remember again about the fondness for your own memories and how those memories keep our loved ones alive and with us longer. And if we can help you keep your loved ones at home, be sure to give us a call. Home Health
Also check out the Alzheimer’s Association
Happy Holidays from All of Us at
Transition Care Telemetry!!
and
TCT Health Foundation!
(Please visit our new site explaining our Foundation TCT Health Foundation )