This time of year is full of opportunities to bring families together to celebrate the holidays, partake in family traditions, and enjoy connecting over food and drink. But for many families, celebrating the holidays can cause mixed feelings when someone they love is living with dementia or memory loss.
They may wonder if old traditions will feel the same or worry about an excessive workload for preparation. Beyond decorating, large family gatherings, and other festive events, the comfort, and needs of a relative with memory loss are also major concerns.
At Brickmont Assisted Living, the holidays are the happiest time of the year for our assisted living communities in Georgia! Our communities love to get festive and celebrate the holidays with friends, family, and team members.
We want to ensure your family has a fun and safe holiday season. There are many ways to make the holidays meaningful and fun for everyone. By adjusting expectations, changing certain traditions, and creating a calm and safe space, celebrating the holidays with a loved one living with dementia will be just as wonderful as they’ve always been.
Manage Expectations
This is a great time to educate your family, friends, neighbors or anyone else who might be attending a holiday celebration about the nature of your relative’s dementia symptoms. It’s crucial for anyone who will be around your family member to understand that your loved one is living with a form of dementia and/or experiencing memory loss. Honestly and clearly explain what this means so that everyone will know what to expect and be able to act accordingly.
This is also a great time to ask for help in regards to decorating, cooking, or caregiving responsibilities to make sure that your relative is as comfortable as possible and has plenty of surrounding support.
Create a Calming Environment
Try to avoid decorations that could make your relative feel uncomfortable or disoriented. For example, avoid blinking lights or large displays, and don’t rearrange familiar rooms to make space for larger decorations. This can cause confusion as routine and familiarity with surroundings are major factors in creating a safe space for someone living with dementia.
Adjust Family Traditions
When celebrating the holidays, aim to keep your gatherings and celebrations smaller than usual to avoid loud noises or commotion, which can trigger feelings of discomfort and anxiety. Instad, include your relative in preparations they feel comfortable with, like baking cookies or opening holiday cards from friends and family members. This is a great way to exercise their cognitive abilities and involve them in the holiday spirit.
Plan gatherings accordingly to avoid disruptions to their daily routines. If you attend any festive events, try to plan on only spending a brief amount of time at the function and be prepared to leave early if necessary. People living with a form of dementia often become disoriented and anxious in public settings, and festive events like holiday parades, light displays, or even a Christmas Village setting might make them feel uncomfortable and agitated.
Move the Celebration to Their Community
If your relative lives in an assisted living or memory care community, plan a family outing to visit them. Changes in environment can be stressful and cause agitation for a person living with dementia, so celebrate in their familiar surroundings to avoid unnecessary frustration and create a positive experience.
Make Time for Self-Care
As a caregiver, self-care is important to recharge and refresh. But, when it comes to taking time for yourself while celebrating the holidays this season:
- Delegate different tasks to family members to ensure that the preparations are done equally so the work doesn’t fall onto your shoulders alone. Ask everyone to lend a hand with cooking, decorating, and gift shopping.
- Set realistic expectations for yourself and others, so that there’s less pressure to create a certain level of celebration or spectacle.
Remember that the most important thing is spending time with family and ensuring that your relative living with dementia and memory loss is happy and comfortable.
It can be challenging to plan out special events when a family member is living with a form of dementia. But by staying cautious, getting other relatives involved, and creating a safe and happy environment, your family can enjoy spending time together to celebrate the holidays that mean the most to you!
Learn more about assisted living in Georgia by visiting Brickmont Assisted Living’s website.
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