Short Films to Watch as Your Mom’s Attention Span Diminishes

It’s always been a holiday tradition that you and your mom watch Christmas movies together while baking cookies. It’s a tradition you’re not ready to give up, and one that makes your mom happy.

She has Alzheimer’s and her attention span is getting shorter. While your mom helps you with holiday baking, what can you watch that will keep her engaged? Shorter movies are good, but musical ones are even better. Here are some great choices.

Christmas On the Square

Alzheimer’s Care Broomall, PA: Christmas Movies

This musical release from 2021 took a lot of people by surprise. It’s an Emmy-winner about a woman (Christine Baranski) who returns to her hometown to sell land and evict tenants, only an angel (Dolly Parton) convinces her to have a change of heart.

Dr. Seuss: How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Not only is your mom certain to know the music in this cartoon, but she will probably remember reading you Dr. Seuss’s stories growing up. It’s all about the grumpy Grinch and his plans to steal Christmas from the cheery Whoville residents, only they end up warming his heart.

The Gift of the Magi

O. Henry’s classic short story is told in this hour-long musical from the 1950s. Eli Wallach narrates this story that stars Gordon MacRae and Sally Ann Howes as a married couple who sacrificed their favorite possessions in order to get the perfect present for each other. Your mom may recognize a younger Bea Arthur in the role of Mrs. Abercrombie.

Last Christmas

You may know the songs of Wham and George Michael better than your mom, but she’ll still find the music enjoyable in this film that was written by Emma Thompson and her husband. It’s a British romance film about a store worker Emilia Clarke) who ends up falling for a mysterious man who seems to come and go exactly when she needs him.

The Muppet Christmas Carol

Jim Henson’s Muppets star in this version of Charles Dickens’s famous holiday novel. Michael Caine played Scrooge while the Muppets fill in the rest of the roles like the ghosts of past, present, and future, Tiny Tim, etc.

At just under 90 minutes, The Muppet Christmas Carol isn’t too long. Plus, the characters will be very familiar to your mom.

White Christmas

This classic holiday movie stars Bing Crosby, Vera-Ellen, Rosemary Clooney, and Danny Kaye. It’s about a pair of singer/dancer sisters and friends who were in the military together and team up to save a Vermont inn. It’s a certainty that your mom will know the classic song.

Make sure you’re taking care of yourself. Many family caregivers don’t realize how challenging it is to care for a parent with Alzheimer’s. Self-care is essential and often gets pushed to the back of your routine. Hire Alzheimer’s care aides to take over from time to time. With the help of Alzheimer’s care aides, you’re able to take breaks, socialize, and avoid caregiver burnout.

If you or an aging loved one are considering Alzheimer’s Care in Broomall, PA please contact the caring staff at True Direct Home Health Care today.

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Perry C. Doc Alleva, Owner & Administrator

Owner & Administrator at True Direct Home Health Care

True Direct HHC owner and administrator, Perry C. Doc Alleva has been in the health care community for over 10 years as a therapy solutions provider, as well as a home care services coordinator. He has extensive experience in caring for the disabled and the surgical acute, sub-acute, and rehab population. Rooted in his home-town city of Philadelphia, with strong ties to it's vast neighborhoods and communities, he's now focusing all his energies towards innovating the home health care agency's role in providing the essential care needed from individual to the family throughout the community.

Doc, as he is called by everyone - staff, patients and clients - first experienced home health care and hospice care while as a colleg student at King's College as he cared for his mother every day while she first battled COPD and then lung cancer. It was during this time that he came to understand that caring for a patient was more than just clinical expertise.

"Admittedly, my strongest attribute is my communication skills and the simple fact that I love to help people. Even the smallest thing you can do for someone really can mean so much to them long term. In fact, it could change them forever. That's what providing quality personal home health care should be all about."

In his spare time, he cooks for homeless shelters and children's music and arts events. He also is highly involved in his local youth sports soccer academy as a coach and Board member.

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