In our area...we are past extreme lock down measures. That said.. this has been a challenging year for my mom with most of her time being spent at home watching news programs. She does not like to scrapbook family memories (she gets adgitated when asked about her family). My father passed in 2001...this is my surviving parent. My siblings (brothers) are busy with their wives and children. My kids are college aged....my former husband and my mom did not get along well...I've found out that a sibling mom never talked about was very similiar to my former husband. This may have contributed to her dislike of him...unbeknown to me ...we did not grow up around extended family. How would it be best to keep family discussions in a positive realm moving forward?
There are just some things that can never be put into a positive light when dealing with negative Nellies. If your mother is only willing to watch news shows on tv, that says a lot right there! News these days puts a happy person into a bad mood! When my mother tells me about a 'news' item she hears or reads, I tell her to watch a comedy or something to make her SMILE on the tv set. But then again, you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
Stop trying so hard to make your mom into a positive person when it comes to the family. Just don't talk about them, that's your best bet!
We have a right to our own lives. These are the life passages for us all. It would literally break me to think that my daughters would give up their lives to care for me, whether that care made me "happy" or not.
Please consider what you can/are willing to do move forward, what you want for this your one and only life. The choice must be yours. Consider counseling for yourself and your husband. Give up trying to change someone else in your household who either cannot or will not change, and whose change will not change the fact that you are choosing her over living your own life. Only you can decide and I wish you and your husband so much luck going forward.