Handmade Gifts for Alzheimer’s Patients

 Handmade Gifts
 I grew up in the era of handmade or homemade gifts.  Sometimes this was because we and our relatives didn’t have the money to purchase many from the store or mail order catalog.  Often it simply was because we liked to make something special and the recipients enjoyed these gifts.

 In later years, when I had a family, we made gifts for my mom and for my mother-in-law as well as others.  One Christmas, my daughter Beth stitched my mother a lap quilt.  Mother always had enjoyed quilts although she hadn’t made any since she was a child. 

 She seemed to enjoy this gift, even though she had Alzheimer’s and resided in a nursing home.  She would finger the pattern and pieces and comment, “Pretty.”

 My mother-in-law asked Beth to make her a small quilt to hang on her wall.  Beth used the Ohio Star pattern because Mum grew up in that state, even though she’d spent the last 60 years of her life in New Hampshire.

 Children and grandchildren making gifts for Alzheimer’s patients, whether a family member or someone in a nursing home, creates memories for them and enables them to learn about caring and giving and making someone happy.

At some point the Alzheimer’s illness may affect the person so they don’t understand nor express appreciation.  Youngsters then learn that they make the gift with love and care; they can’t control the recipient’s reaction.  Yet they can enjoy the experience of giving.

(Incidentally, my daughter just read an article reporting that more people are purchasing craft supplies and making gifts or buying them from craftspeople.)

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