If Your Aging Parents Live Far Away: Celebrate With
Seniors Long Distance

Celebrate with seniors long distance this year if you have to! Extended families are often scattered in these days. If you or your aging parents are unable to travel to be together for holidays, all is not lost. You'll need to be creative but you can invent many ways to make the holiday special for your parents.


Host a Virtual Holiday Party

One idea might be to organize a "virtual Christmas Party" with your family.

1.You could obtain a free conference line that you send to all family members ahead of time. Celebrate with your seniors long distance by signing up at FreeConferenceCall. com or MrConference.com.  Each person that calls, pays their  applicable long-distance.

2. Set up a time that you agree on (don't forget to translate for the various timezones)

3. Everyone dials the number and PIN number at the same time.

4. If you act as "moderator" then you can invite everyone to say their name as they come on and greet.

5. You can sing a couple of favorite Christmas carols as a group. If your family is religious you could read the Christmas story or have a prayer.

6. Then you can go "around the room" and have each person describe one Christmas gift they received from another on the line. You can have your mom open her gifts at this time so it's like having the family around a "virtual tree".


Stay Connected After the Holidays

Here’s how you can keep this virtual connection going even after the holidays. Especially if they have grandchildren or great grandchildren!

  • Try setting up a family experience with a weekly "video" visit with grandchildren. Grandparents scattered across the country were all given web-cams for Christmas one year. Or Try Face Time or Zoom.

    What's App     is another quick way to be "face-to-face". Scheduled a regular time for them to connect each week.

  • Also there are websites that can be updated regularly to post pictures and an on-going diary to share the antics of growing kids  -- a private Facebook Group my be just the key for more frequent inter-family connections. One branch of the family has logged the growth of their 2 year old since birth -- for family not regularly on Facebook, an email lets extended family know when the site has been updated.

    • Another family sends an email to grandparents and other relatives across the country every Thursday. It has a letter that summarizes the week's events and 4-5 pictures that go along with it.

    Use these ideas to spark your imagination and get creative about how to celebrate with seniors long distance!

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