IN CONCERT
What: A Jann Arden Christmas
When: Saturday, Dec. 16, 8 p.m.
Where: Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton St.
Tickets: $30 to $105
For more information, visit: victoriasymphony.ca
Jann Arden expects this to be her mother’s last Christmas at home on the rural property they share outside Calgary.
“It’s very isolated and her care is becoming more medical,” Arden said from Vancouver, one of the many stops on her concert and book tour. “I’m trying to make good decisions, but it’s hard.”
Arden will be in Victoria this weekend to perform with the Victoria Symphony and sign her latest book, Feeding My Mother, at Bolen Books.
The book is a collage of stories, photos and recipes — a hardcopy extension of her widely read and shared social-media posts about her parents, Joan and Derrel Richards, and their struggles with declining health. Arden’s father died in 2015 after grappling with dementia, and her mother has Alzheimer’s disease.
In a recent post, Arden wrote: “I know you might live a long time, Mom, and I’m trying to think of what I am going to do with this distance. I’m trying to get my head around how I’m going to close the gap between what is and what is not.”
Her candid writing not only touched fans, but tapped into a mass of people quietly struggling through similar experiences with their parents.
“Everybody cries when they come up to me [at book signings],” Arden said. “How many people are struggling with this with their families? It’s a catastrophe.”
She said she mostly just listens to the stories, having only a few minutes with each person — if that.
It’s emotional and a bit draining, especially coupled with Christmas concerts at each stop. “But it made sense to do it together,” Arden said. “And it’s nice to be with people, rather than alone in a hotel room.”
Her concerts, which include a mixture of Christmas tunes and original songs performed with a full orchestra, are uplifting. But, Arden said, the holidays can be a time of mixed feelings.
“It’s the irony of the festive season,” she said. “We’re very seldom thrust into a room with our families, and there’s the pressure and the dinner.”
Arden is looking forward to a simple Christmas at home with her mom and a few visitors. She predicts lots of good food, movies and board games.
“I will sit on a couch with a hot chocolate, the remote in hand and stare into the trees … Also, Christmas is the only time I eat Bugles,” Arden said.
She might throw a holiday album on the record player — Barbra Streisand or Bing Crosby, perhaps. She’ll do some cooking, including homemade marshmallows and nuts and bolts.
But one thing she has no plans to do is sing. “I’ll be all sung out,” she said.
Jann Arden will be at Bolen Books in Hillside Shopping Centre on Sunday from 2 to 3 p.m. to sign her latest book, Feeding My Mother, and her holiday CD, A Jann Arden Christmas.
