Nicole Robichaud, a lawyer and caregiver in Ottawa, shares her personal journey with a special folk art calendar that has been a constant in her family’s Christmas traditions for almost three decades.
The tradition of gifting her mother the same folk art calendar every Christmas started nearly 30 years ago. Even though the origin of the calendar gift is now fuzzy, it has become a cherished annual tradition in their family.
Growing up in Toronto, the holiday season was always a joyful time for Nicole’s family. Among the gifts, her mother had a special fondness for the art calendar, relishing the colorful paintings each month, with December’s snowy scenes being her favorite.
In 2015, Nicole’s mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at the age of 68. Despite her prior experience caring for her own father with the same illness, the journey with her mother’s Alzheimer’s brought new challenges.
Over time, as the disease progressed, Nicole’s parents relocated to a retirement home in Ottawa, and eventually, her mother moved to a memory care unit due to her deteriorating condition.
Despite her mother’s declining ability to engage with the calendar or even recognize its contents, Nicole continues the tradition of gifting it each year as a way to maintain a connection to their shared past.
Despite the challenges of caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s, Nicole finds solace in the continuity of the calendar tradition, even as her mother’s cognitive abilities decline.
Even as her mother’s condition worsens, Nicole continues to view the calendar as a source of comfort and a way to express her unwavering love and dedication to her mother.
For Nicole, the calendar represents more than a simple gift; it embodies her spiritual beliefs and serves as a beacon of hope and connection amid the uncertainties of Alzheimer’s.