Celebrating the Holidays with Elderly Friends & Family

The holidays are a great time to celebrate with children because everything is a new experience. It seems a great deal of the advertisement is aimed at children and adorable young families. The latest toys and the perfect expression of love for couples. In addition to fun activities with children, it is a season to include our aging friends and family.

Everyone ages differently and some require certain accommodation. This article is about making the holidays special for special people in our lives who require extra physical and cognitive assistance during holiday visits. For some this means living in assisted living facilities. For others, aides need to be hired for living at home.

If at all possible, try and bring your special needs family or friend to your home for a personal holiday experience. It requires more work, but keep in mind your elderly or disabled friend or family needs a change of scenery. While they may need care 24/7, Christmas, Hanukkah or any holiday you celebrate at your house is worth all the preparation.

Preparing Your House:

Everyone cleans house for the holidays. In addition to regular cleaning, our special friends and family need some extras. If you have small children over the holidays, we naturally look for small ingestible items. For our elderly guests we need to look for small items on the floor that could cause them to trip and have a terrible fall. In addition we need to make sure there is a chair that is comfortable and will allow them to hear what everyone is saying. Before holiday celebrations I walk through the house and look for any obstacles that may cause problems for our elderly guests.

In preparing food and beverages for elderly guests find items that are easily digestible and low in salt. The ability to shrug off salt in your diet begins to decline as we all age. If your aging guest has any special allergies make sure you are aware of this in your menu planning.

Plan Special Elderly Comforts:

Over the years celebrating holidays with elderly family and friends I make sure they feel included in the activities of the day. I place pictures of them over the years in prominent places around the house. In addition, I meet everyone at the door with a big smile and cheer their presence. Another important thing to do is to give your elderly guest the time to adjust to the new environment. Most assisted living residences are regimented and have a routine. This is necessary for their accreditation and caring for numerous people. Let your elderly guest know he or she can go anywhere in the house they care to venture. This applies to elderly guests that have cognitive impairments and may need to ask for assistance.

Create a Memory Book of the Day:

I have kept a photo journal of our holiday celebrations over the years. It is a great method of bringing up to speed elderly guests that may need to refresh their memories. It is important to reassurie them that it is okay to forget names and places. The important thing is that the holiday would not be complete without their presence.

Holiday Crafts:

A fun craft for elderly guest with memory problems is to create place cards for the dinner table. The only supplies you need are pictures from Thanksgiving, Elmer's Glue and holiday gift tags. I cut out the pictures in advance and place them on a plate. I put names on the gift tags in advance. The fun part is to allow your elderly guest to glue the pictures to the gift tags and arrange where everyone will sit. This is very special for elderly guests because they get to choose where everyone sits. It puts the holiday in their control.

Gifts to Go Home:

It always seems that everyone reaches a point where they are simply stuffed. Too much good food and too much fun is overwhelming. If your elderly guest has had enough to eat, try not to force the issue. Create a foil package of their favorite items and dessert. I make a variety of foil carry-out packages. If you use a 10"x10" square of foil you can fashion a bird, a duck or swam with ease. In addition to the other gifts, this is a great addition. It is also a great time to take lots of pictures and remind your special guest that you will see them real soon. The photos used in this article were taken by the author on Thanksgiving 2007. The festive frames are courtesy of Wal-Mart Photo Shop. Wal-Mart has numerous picture gifts and holiday photo cards starting at 33 cents per card. The cards and gifts can be ordered on-line at the Wal-Mart web site.

The main point of this article is to remember that aging is different for all people. In addition, aging may quickly impair a loved one in a short period of time. Keep in touch with the special needs of your special guest. It is worth the effort because we will all, God willing, need extra help someday. Let your special guest that all that matters is that everyone is together for the holidays.