Safely Connect with Seniors This Holiday Season

If there’s a perfect way to connect with seniors, holiday events seem ideal. Unfortunately, the advent of COVID-19 last year made holidays in 2020 a tough time to interact. How is the 2021 holiday season shaping up? While restrictions have relaxed somewhat for fully vaccinated adults, the risk of variants threatening the most vulnerable among us urges caution when connecting with the seniors in your life. This means we’re going to have another complicated holiday season. Especially if your older relatives live far from family and aren’t willing to risk travel, it can be difficult to know what to do. How can you make sure their holiday is still meaningful? Whether your loved ones are far away or nearby, take some tips from what we learned last year.

• Technology can be a powerful tool for communication. Unfortunately, it can be overwhelming for older people. Digital devices can seem confusing and hard to navigate, so you may need to give your seniors a hand. Buy a smart tablet as a holiday gift, and preload it with apps for grocery shopping, video chats, audiobooks, and virtual games to play with family and friends. Make it easy for them to simply push a button and connect to someone special or something they enjoy.
• A daily check in is almost as good as being there. If your seniors live far from family, calling every day to ask about their lives and share yours can be a great way to stay connected and keep them from feeling isolated. If a daily call is too overwhelming, create a rotating calling schedule with other family members. Use this time each day to offer support in a positive way, talk about things for which you’re both grateful, and share fun moments from your day in a way that makes your loved one feel included.
• The mail is still a wonderful way to brighten someone’s day. Send a care package, write a letter, have your children create holiday art, send a funny card, mail a meaningful ornament, or find some other way to extend holiday cheer to a senior who may be feeling isolated.
• Plan some socially distanced fun. When planning a holiday party, limit the guest list to 10 people or fewer. Ask your guests to be covid tested before the party, or request that people wear masks. If the weather permits, you can also hold your party outdoors, to make it safer for everyone. An outdoor movie night with Christmas flicks and hot chocolate, a walk through the neighborhoods looking at the lights, or some window caroling may be just the thing to stir up the Christmas spirit and make everyone feel merry and bright.

If you’re looking for an active adult living community, consider Larkspur at Shadow Creek. A family-owned and managed 55 plus community, we offer resort-style apartments in Pearland, Texas, with an emphasis on active living. We give our residents the chance to transition from the responsibilities and burdens of home ownership to a lifestyle of convenience and luxury, full of new friends, new activities, and new adventures. To learn more about life at Larkspur at Shadow Creek, call 832-376-8414, or contact us through our website.