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So many Christmases in my past have been filled with hurry, hustle and bustle, trying to get in the last minute shopping while baking cookies and making candy for parties, and sending Christmas cards to everyone on my huge list. I remember
feeling so weary, with feet burning, because I'd stood in the kitchen so long or been walking through stores until I could no longer stand.
Regrettably now, even the Christmases when I was my mother's caregiver were that way somewhat. I did the shopping early, but I baked and made candy right up until Christmas Eve both holiday seasons that I was her caregiver. I wanted to bring the whole family together on Christmas Eve, including the brother who couldn't be there Christmas day because he had married into a large family. So I baked, made candy, and decorated cookies for the Christmas Eve drop-in party that lasted all afternoon and into the evening.
As my prolonged holiday season grew old for her, even that beautiful Christmas tree became a source of confusion and angered my mother. She said that I was messing up the house and demanded that it be cleaned up, so I hurriedly took down the tree sooner than I'd planned. I did simplify things a bit the second year. I did a little less baking and made less candy, but I still did them, and I still had the Christmas Eve party. We didn't have a tree decorating party, and I purchased a small tabletop live tree instead of real one that touched the ceiling. I didn't feel so much like celebrating that year anyway. You see, the decision had been made, and my mother would be entering a nursing home on the day after Christmas. Now Christmases are so simple that I wonder why they couldn't have been this way before. The shopping is done and gifts are wrapped a couple of weeks early. My husband and I have a small artificial tree, though it is about twice the size of that last live tabletop tree that I did for my mother (or was it for me?). There are no lights or breakable ornaments on this tree, as it falls quite frequently when our five cats get rambunctious. There is no baking or candy-making done. We are both on diets. I am taking a goody basket on our Christmas trip, but it will be filled with scrumptious things I have purchased, not made. And those things have been chosen carefully and won't include many sweets or fatty foods. Both my brother, who has diabetes, and my brother-in-law, who has high blood pressure, have had heart surgery.
The copyright of the article A Simple Holiday: Making it Pleasant for Alzheimer's Patient and Caregiver in Alzheimer's Disease is owned by . Permission to republish A Simple Holiday: Making it Pleasant for Alzheimer's Patient and Caregiver in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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