Tag Archives: thanksgiving

November 16, 2025 · 12:35 pm

Gratitude comes in many forms and sizes

I was attending an event this weekend where we were talking about grief and gratitude. It’s an appropriate topic for November as we quickly approach Thanksgiving where we are reminded to be grateful for our blessings.

But when one is going through difficult times or actively grieving, tapping into gratitude can feel impossible. A person at the event I attended suggested that the bigger and deeper the grief, aiming to engage in smaller moments of gratitude can feel more achievable and still have a significant impact. The last thing one should do is force themselves to be grateful, because authenticity is essential. The last thing someone who is grieving should do is feel guilty because they cannot muster feelings of gratitude.

What can be helpful is taking time to be present in the moment. Recognizing the complexity of the more negative emotions and understanding that grief’s depth mirrors the bond you had with what is gone. Those relationships that were complicated may trigger even a deeper mix of emotions. Honoring those feelings over time can slowly make space for other feelings to emerge, such as gratitude.

It can also help to focus on something outside of your current situation. I find nature to be one of the simplest and most satisfying ways to ground oneself in a moment of gratitude. Being of awe of the stars in the night sky, a gorgeous sunrise, the colors of the leaves in autumn — these simple moments of gratitude have helped chip away at the oppressive grief I have felt at times during the holiday season.

Hope these tips help if you are navigating grief this holiday season.

Illustration generated by Google Gemini.

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November 18, 2024 · 8:00 am

Making guests with dementia feel comfortable at Thanksgiving dinner

Thanksgiving was one of my family’s favorite holidays. My father loved the food and my mother enjoyed preparing our small family’s meal. If you are hosting or attending a Thanksgiving dinner with a loved one with dementia, it’s important to consider such an occasion from the perspective of someone with cognitive challenges. By planning ahead, remaining flexible, and adjusting your expectations, you increase the chances of everyone having a good time.

Here are important aspects to consider:

Group setting: How many people will be attending the gathering? Is your loved one with dementia comfortable with large groups or do they become easily overwhelmed? What about children or pets? Some people with dementia light up and become more engaged in the presence of children and pets, others may find their energy overwhelming or irritating.

Sitting at a large table can make it difficult for those with dementia to keep up with multiple conversation streams. One solution could be to have multiple smaller table settings to encourage engagement and reduce distractions.

Dietary needs: Dementia can impact a person’s palate, so don’t be surprised or insulted if old favorites are not greeted with much enthusiasm. If dietary restrictions are a consideration, making a plate instead of self-serve may be the best option. Monitor alcohol intake, especially if your loved one takes medications that may interact with alcohol.

Those in the middle to latter stages of Alzheimer’s and other dementias may begin having problems managing cutlery. Consider cutting up food into bite-sized pieces for ease in eating.

One of the more sensitive and heartbreaking aspects of dementia is when someone who loved to cook loses the ability to safely navigate the kitchen and follow recipes. For those who still want to contribute to the Thanksgiving feast, find kitchen tasks that match their ability level. Remember that it’s about the family spending quality time together even more than the food.

Meal presentation: One thing in common with Thanksgiving dinner spreads is that the table is often loaded with multiple dishes. It can be difficult to know where to start even for someone without dementia! Consider using adaptive dinnerware designed for those with dementia.

If your family is hosting and your loved one is no longer able to cook safely, keep them involved by helping set the table.

Need for quiet time: Be prepared to give your loved one a space where they can decompress if necessary. If you are at someone else’s home, perhaps a guest bedroom or if the weather cooperates, a breath of fresh air on the porch could be ideal. Sometimes, a drive around the block may help re-set one’s mood, and worse case scenario, leaving a gathering early is always an option.

Remain flexible and accept that certain beloved family traditions may need to be revamped. After such a social event, make sure your loved one has plenty of time to rest and recover.

By taking these aspects of holiday meal planning into consideration, loved ones with dementia will continue to feel involved and appreciated. Even those who have diminished verbal skills can soak up the love in the room.

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November 23, 2023 · 8:00 am

Being grateful in difficult times

For those facing difficult family situations, the holiday season is often met with dread. As we get older, losses can mount and make the holidays a reminder of those who are no longer with us. I grapple with this each holiday season, as my father died five days before Christmas 2011. Every holiday season since then has been tinged with grief.

It can feel impossible to feel gratitude as a family caregiver who may feel hopeless and trapped in their situations. I often felt resentment when I came across those pushing messages of gratitude during the holiday season. Now that I’ve had the space of several years since caring for my parents, I feel that a gratitude practice can be a useful self-care tool but only if one is genuine and not trying to force the issue.

Gratitude doesn’t have to be a list overflowing with positivity. It can be a testament to what makes your life worth living.

I hope your holidays will come with good family moments. Those happy memories can provide immense comfort during tougher times.

If you are looking for more reading material this holiday season, I’m participating in a giveaway via Prolific Works. You can get a copy of my award-winning personal essay collection, The Reluctant Caregiver, for free through December 15, 2023.

Image by Deborah Hudson from Pixabay.

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November 24, 2022 · 12:47 pm

A thank you to caregivers

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate. In addition to food, family and football, today is a day to show gratitude.

I’d like to give thanks to all of the caregivers, from family members to those in the care workforce. I’d like to express gratitude especially to those caregivers who feel invisible, unappreciated and overworked. You matter and you deserve more support. There are many people working hard to implement changes to better support caregivers. It’s been an uphill battle and will continue to be so, but caregiver advocates, many of us former or current caregivers, are a tough and dedicated bunch.

Let the caregivers in your life know how much their efforts mean. Thank you to all of those who have supported me on my caregiving journey, from following this blog to buying my books and sending encouraging notes and comments.

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November 25, 2020 · 11:39 am

Being grateful in a year of turmoil

It will be a different kind of Thanksgiving celebration this year for many families. Smaller gatherings, not getting to hug elder loved ones, some spending the holiday in isolation.

I hope by this time next year, we will largely have put the coronavirus epidemic behind us. Having spent almost the entire year in its grips, we must be resilient for the next few months as vaccines become available. I know many are understandably exhausted, but there does appear to be a light at the end of this tunnel.

There are many things to be grateful for this year.

I am grateful to the healthcare workers, from the ICU nurses to nursing home staff to home health aides, who put their lives on the line each and every day to take care of the rest of us. That is an awe-inspiring sacrifice. (To the thousands who lost their lives to COVID-19 while caring for others, I express my gratitude to their grieving families.)

I am grateful to all of the frontline workers, from grocery store clerks to transit employees to those in food production and utilities. They kept the rest of us who were isolating at home up and running, so we could continue doing our jobs and taking care of our families.

Of course I want to give thanks to the family caregivers. The stress and anguish they have gone through this year is devastating. I’ve read so many heartbreaking accounts of families not being able to visit loved ones in nursing homes because of lockdowns. Watching their loved ones physically and mentally decline via Zoom or standing outside, separated by a glass door or window is something no one should ever experience. Many families couldn’t even be with their loved ones as they died. For those caring for vulnerable family members at home, every sniffle put one on high alert. Trying to keep loved ones at home healthy, comfortable and entertained while reducing their risk of infection is a monumental task. Many caregiver resources have been limited or shut down due to the pandemic, leaving families to fend for themselves.

This Thanksgiving, I hope you are able to find some joy and comfort, even if your celebration has to be altered due to the pandemic. As a token of gratitude, I am participating in a book giveaway. Both The Reluctant Caregiver and CBD for Caregivers are available for free.

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November 21, 2018 · 9:00 am

Participate in #TheGreatListen this Thanksgiving

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Pixabay

Thanksgiving is supposed to be a day of gratitude and family, but sometimes it can turn into a day of bickering and stress. For all of us who no longer have our parents with us, I urge you to put aside the differences and the things about your family that annoy you and focus on the good things.

At the very least, take it as a grand opportunity to record family stories. Don’t be shy; ignore the naysayers. Organizations like StoryCorps have smartphone apps and tools that make capturing family lore easy for anyone.

As I discovered writing The Reluctant Caregiver, there is nothing like have a story recorded in a loved one’s own voice. I found gaps in my memory when trying to recount some family legends.

What is The Great Listen?

The Great Thanksgiving Listen is a national movement that empowers young people—and people of all ages—to create an oral history of the contemporary United States by recording an interview with an elder using the free StoryCorps App.

Download and print The Great Thanksgiving Listen Placemat

Pretend that the Thanksgiving meal is the last time you’ll see a particular elder. (I hope you have many more years with all of your loved ones, but let’s face it, we often take family for granted.) What must you know before they depart this earth? What stories of theirs do you want recorded for posterity? Are there things you wish to share with them, to thank them for? Let them know.

May you have a wonderful Thanksgiving spent with loved ones and friends.

 

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November 23, 2016 · 9:34 am

Memories of humble, yet happy Thanksgiving meals

Embed from Getty Images

I’ve never had patience for big family gatherings, probably because I grew up celebrating holidays with just my parents. That helped keep planning and bickering to a minimum. I have particularly happy memories of Thanksgiving, enjoying a humble but delicious meal and watching The Twilight Zone marathon throughout the day.

This year, thanks to the contentious election, I’ve come across several articles offering tips on how to survive the holiday with relatives. While I get that family stress is real, and kept my own visits home as an adult to a minimum, it is a bit sad that we need instruction guides on how to navigate a meal without suffering a nervous breakdown. Winning an argument or criticizing someone else’s viewpoint is more important to some than recognizing common bonds and accepting the imperfections in all of us. (That being said, I do not believe toxic family members should get a free pass; repair relationships where you can but move on when necessary.)

Over the last several years I have been preoccupied with family caregiving, and I witnessed the best and worst from my parents, and from myself. For those who are grieving the loss of a loved one, the holidays are a mixed bag of emotions. I am grateful for the memories of simply, happy Thanksgiving meals with my family, and I hope that all of you find those moments this week with your family and friends.

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November 26, 2015 · 5:20 pm

Thankful for memories

I discovered recently while having Christmas ornaments made with family photos that my family did not take a lot of holiday pictures.

There were a handful of photos when I was a baby and small child, and then virtually nothing during the rest of my childhood. Of course, back then, we didn’t have the devices that make taking photos and videos so easy now.

family portrait red

It made me a bit sad that there were so few photos of holiday celebrations, but I am thankful I have the memories. There were no fancy Thanksgiving recipes, it was all from boxes and cans, but it was my favorite meal of the year, because it was made with love and it was a meal my parents and I looked forward to so much.

There won’t be any more meals with my parents in this lifetime, but I consider myself fortunate to have such memories.

 

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November 27, 2014 · 10:41 am

Bittersweet holiday

As I’ve written before I’m sure, Thanksgiving was my dad’s favorite holiday. He loved turkey! My dad was not one to get too excited about food normally, so it was a big deal to watch him devour slice after slice of turkey.

While I can still recall those fond family memories, they are unfortunately overshadowed by that Thanksgiving three years ago. Dad was in the ICU, clinging to life. I was trying to figure out when I should fly out, because I was working the entire holiday weekend. The nurse said he could pass in two hours or two months, there was no telling. As soon as I arrived to work on Black Friday 2011, I received the call from a nurse, frantically asking me if they should pull the plug on my dad’s life support.

turkey

I’m now back working in the same newsroom I was that day when I received that terrible call. Every now and then I’ll glance to that corner of the room and remember the pacing I did that day three years ago, trying my best not to completely freak out from the stress. I’m once again working the holiday, but from home this time. Thankfully I won’t have to mark the anniversary of those painful memories at the office.

So Thanksgiving is bittersweet for me. I still enjoy the food and try to focus on the happy memories. Life, and death, does not pause for holidays.

I hope somehow, somewhere, Dad is enjoying a few big slices of turkey.

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November 22, 2012 · 6:34 pm

The first Thanksgiving without Dad

It has been a strange, bittersweet Thanksgiving holiday for me. I am spending the week with Mom, but now she’s having some troubling health symptoms that we need to go have checked out tomorrow. So she can’t even enjoy any food today, not that we were going to do a traditional feast.

We decided to skip the turkey and fixings, but the memories of past holiday meals linger. We never had the big family gatherings that many other people enjoy. It was just the three of us, so I think we miss his presence even more because it’s such a huge hole in our little family.

By far, Dad’s favorite holiday was Thanksgiving. He loved all of the traditional dishes served on that day, but I think the turkey was his favorite. He would always ask for seconds on that day! I wish Dad could have enjoyed a real turkey one year, as we always bought those little “turkey roasts in a box” since it was just the three of us.

He wasn’t that big on desserts, which left more pumpkin pie for me, which I was just fine with. 🙂

Holidays and illness unfortunately do mix sometimes. It’s just one of those unavoidable facts of life. Thankfully, I’m not that sentimental about holidays, but I can’t help but think about how it’s been one year now that my life has revolved around illness and loss. These life-altering experiences make you reassess your priorities and what is truly meaningful. It also makes me wonder when I see all of the Facebook posts where people so casually give thanks to family and friends. I’m not saying people are not sincere, but it’s so easy to take all of those special people in your life for granted. I’ve certainly been guilty of it. This past year has taught me a difficult, but important lesson.

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