As the pandemic disproportionately affected our elders, this Thanksgiving, let’s take a moment to be thankful for all the elderly persons in our lives. Depending on what stage of life you are in this could include great grandparents, grandparents, parents, other loved ones, and our neighbors.
If the politics get too rough at the family Thanksgiving table, a great change of topic is always one of our favorites – Estate Planning!! 😉
In all seriousness, when the family is together for a holiday it is a perfect time to bring up important matters such as planning for the future, including paying for elders healthcare and handling health care emergencies and making sure there is an advance plan to safeguard finances.
It’s important everyone is informed of the elder’s wishes. Getting everyone on the same page as much as possible helps the process later. And after Thanksgiving, if you’d like help with your estate planning, elder law questions, or even advice on how to start the conversation with your parents and other loved ones, give us a call!
However if the conversation drifts back to politics and you need a way out, here are some conversation starters for the Thanksgiving table, taken from some articles we found:
Politically Neutral Conversation Starters, besides estate planning that even the Elders might enjoy!!
‘Dune’ 2021: There were thousands of memes made about “Dune,” but it turned out to be a pretty great movie that lived up to the hype. You can chat about if the remake was better than the original or how great Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack was. If anyone at your Thanksgiving hasn’t seen it, you can even still stream it on HBO Max once dinner is over.
Matt Amodio, was on ‘Jeopardy!’ for a really long time: OK, how cool was that?
It seems to be every 10 years or so there is a “Jeopardy!” contestant who captivates viewers with their win streaks, and that just happened with Matt Amodio.
When he hit the month mark on his win streak, it felt like an event every night watching the show.
It was such a feel-good story, so why not ask your relatives if they were as excited about it as you were?
‘Succession’:
It’s back! After being off the air for more than two years because of the pandemic, HBO’s “Succession” is a few weeks into its third season, and people have opinions. Admittedly, this one might tie into the Elder planning conversations.
If people at your Thanksgiving table haven’t seen the show yet, this is the perfect opportunity to tell them about it, and then watch the pilot episode after dinner.
Ariana Grande on ‘The Voice’:
“The Voice” has Kelly Clarkson, alongside, Ariana Grande, the show finally feels fresh and exciting again.
Grande has been so fun to watch this season, so why not see if others agree with you?
Another Olympics is right around the corner:
The last two years feel like they barely happened, but now we’ve got the Winter Olympics coming up just mere months after the pushed-back Summer Olympics.
The Olympics are always fun, but two during a global pandemic? That will be fun to discuss.
Whether it’s a bones day:
If you’re addicted to TikTok, you know if it’s a bones day or not. But for the uneducated, let me enlighten you: There is a guy on the app named Jonathan Graziano who has a 13-year-old elder pug named Noodle.
This pug has lived quite a long life, and doesn’t always feel up to moving around.
Every day on TikTok, he will prop Noodle up and see if he’s going to use his bones. If he stays upright, it’s a bones day. If Noodle flops to the ground, it’s no-bones day. It’s like Groundhog Day when we wait to see if the groundhog can see its shadow and we plan accordingly.
You can show your family some videos of Noodle and get them invested in checking if it’s going to be a bones or a no-bones day.