If you have a loved one living with Alzheimer’s or another type of dementia, your holidays will look different. That’s okay. It’s a new chapter.
Dementia Care Tips: Celebrating Holidays
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For Caregivers > Care Tips
Care Tips
Find ideas and tips about creating connections, involving family and friends, celebrating together, and more.
Browse recent articles below, or search by keyword or category (i.e. communication, involving others, celebrating).
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Sheryl and Trish looking at cards together on Trish’s 70th birthday in 2009
Christmas Carol Lyrics
We’ve put together five pages of easy-to-read Christmas carol lyrics to help you and your family experience the joy of connecting with each other as you sing together.
Caregiver Story: My Aunt Sue and Uncle Dale
I will always remember how my aunt Sue’s face lit up when she heard the sound of my uncle Dale’s voice.
Loving and Laughing – An Alzheimer’s Caregiver Story
While caring for her husband who had Alzheimer’s, Polly Burns learned to cherish moments of love and laughter along the way.
Handyman – A Caregiver Story
Family and friends need to get involved. Sometimes that just means being around, seeing what needs to be done, and doing what you can to ease the burden … if even only for a moment.
Balancing Act – A Caregiver Story
A loving daughter shares about caring for her parents who are both living with dementia.
Holiday Activities to Enjoy With Someone Who Has Alzheimer’s
Fun, practical, family-friendly holiday activities with someone who has Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia.
Why Bother Visiting? – A Caregiver Story
A woman encourages her mother to keep visiting her husband living with dementia, even after he seems unable to recognize her.
7 Tips for Celebrating Holidays During the Alzheimer’s Journey
Holiday celebrations help keep your family connected. Treasure new memories. Feel the love. Cherish each moment of joy.
Ambiguous Loss and Dementia
Dementia creates ambiguous loss. Your loved one is here, but not here. It’s confusing. There’s no timetable, so no sense of closure.
Safe With Us: A Caregiver Story
Kim Foster helps care for her mother-in-law, Alice, who is living with dementia. Reflecting on an especially challenging stretch during the pandemic, she says: “It was the toughest three months I’ve ever spent caring for someone. But it was completely worth it.”
Not-So-Obvious Dementia Care Tips
When caring for a loved one living with dementia, learn to look at things in a new way. It’s easy to overlook the little things, but those little things may make a big difference.
Handmade Cards and a Legacy of Love
Sending handmade cards and personal notes can help families stay connected during the Alzheimer’s journey.
Basic Info About Alzheimer’s and Dementia
Alzheimer’s is the leading cause of dementia, so sometimes people use one term to mean the other. It’s more accurate to refer to say “Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia.”
Watching Musical Movies With a Loved One Living With Dementia
Tips for watching musical movies together, helping your family stay connected during the Alzheimer’s journey.
Book Review: “No Sad Songs” by Frank Morelli
Review of “No Sad Songs” by Frank Morelli, a young adult book that deals with the topic of a teenager caring for a loved one living with dementia.
Tips for Using Music When Visiting People Living With Dementia
Mary Sue Wilkinson, founder of Singing Heart to Heart, shares her 5 tips for how to include music when visiting a person living with dementia.
Why Music Matters
Music connects us with our memories and with each other. It’s an essential part of life, so it’s an essential part of dementia care.
Talking With Someone Who Has Alzheimer’s
Develop new habits for talking with someone who has Alzheimer’s. Learn to cherish each new conversation.
When Words Fail
One simple smile can express love, kindness, approval, and encouragement. Smiles connect when words fail.
Learning to Face Alzheimer’s With Joy
As Trish used her teaching skills, she taught us it was okay to look for new ways of doing things.
Keep Talking, Keep Listening
You may think someone who has Alzheimer’s has lost the ability to talk. But a certain word or song, or maybe a timely smile, might spark a beautiful new conversation.
Caregiver Well-Being Links
We’ve compiled some links to organizations supporting your well-being as a caregiver, along with a few direct links to helpful articles and resources provided on each organization’s website.
Facing Alzheimer’s With Songs, Smiles, and Joy
We’re inviting others to get involved with us, encouraging people to care for caregivers. We are thinking bigger, planning to positively impact people across the country and around the world. With your help, we encourage and support families navigating the challenges of caring for a loved one who has Alzheimer’s. Together, we are facing the disease with songs, smiles, and joy.
More for Caregivers
Educational Workshops
Our workshops are designed to get practical information and resources directly to caregivers.
Printed Magazines
Check out our magazines … one for caregivers, and one to share with loved ones who have Alzheimer’s.
Interactive Singalongs
We create environments designed to connect families and friends, while also connecting to joy-filled memories.
Our Story
We know what it’s like to love someone who has Alzheimer’s.