For someone with advanced dementia, familiarity is a comfort
2. Encourage your loved ones to stream a religious service, and opt for familiar over exotic. Opt for streamed over recorded, too, for a stronger sense of connection.
3. Dress up for the streamed service. It’s amazing how putting on dress shoes makes it feel like a real occasion.
4. Let traditional foods inspire memories. Traditions are a way of stitching the years together. Even if no one ever really liked Aunt Debbie’s pineapple and marshmallow Jello salad, nothing’s more powerful for bringing back memories than a food you only have once a year. Especially for someone with advanced dementia, familiarity is a comfort.
5. Connect with the spiritual meaning of the holiday. Take some time before the streamed service to set the mood by reading a sacred text or singing an appropriate hymn. If your loved one has a favorite prayer, recite it together.
6. Take a moment to think about, or talk about, gratitude, calling to mind the blessings of the year even amidst hardship. At the same time, be sure to acknowledge the legitimacy of the grief your loved ones may be feeling at missing out on the traditional gathering. Gratitude and grief can coexist and should not be made to compete with each other.
7. Be inclusive of all ages. Make sure you take time to listen to older members of the family as they share their thoughts and experiences. And remember that they may take pleasure in learning what the younger generation is doing. You can still admire beautifully decorated easter eggs with a video display. While you prepare to make Easter gifts for children, make it a project for the kids to help make a special gift for grandparents, baskets, cards, and treats are always welcome.
8. Start some new traditions. While you can’t be in church, sing a familiar hymn or do a family reading of a sacred text, poem, or story at home. Put together photos from Easter day of past years and share them with your extended family electronically.
