White paper snowflakes on your windows. Bright paper chains draped across the top of the curtains or mantle. Cinnamon ornaments adding aroma to your home, and trays of cookie cutter crafts waiting to be decorated. Slow down this season and soak in a little old-fashioned entertainment. Make memories your family will remember for years. Here are some of my family’s:

Paper chains

We use the traditional Christmas colors of red and green with added yellow for the lights of the season. Other ideas: blue and white for Hanukah or red, green and black for Kwanza.

My sisters and I used to coil paper grocery bags full of paper chains. One year, we all sat around the table letting the loops coil under the table as we worked, talking and laughing until the paper strips disappeared. The mound under the table was enormous. My mother must have had fun hanging those! Hmm, maybe that is how the bag idea got started.

What you need: Paper. You can use construction paper, card stock, wrapping paper, paper bags, whatever you have on hand. Scissors or a paper cutter, and tape, glue or staples. Cut strips of paper to even widths.

How to do it: We had three piles of strips, one for each color. I cut the strips in 1½- inch sections from the short side of 9- by 12- inch construction paper. Loop the first piece into a circle, laying one edge slightly over the other, secure. Slide the next piece through the loop and again lay one edge over the lip of the opposite edge. The first loop will hang down at 6 o’clock. Continue adding loops.

Use to decorate the tree, mantle, or hang around a window or door. When my girls were little, we used the chains as garlands for the tree, a pretty and safe alternative to lights. A note of caution to please use care not to hang paper near heat sources and lights that may get hot. If you use on your mantle, remove before lighting a fire.

Snowflakes

I have been making paper snowflakes for so long I cannot remember when I began. Some call me the queen of snowflakes because I can cut them to have little trees, or bells, even teddybears inside. My family makes them and sends them to family members living in warmer climates. My youngest sister claims the Maine-made snowflakes are powerful snow bearers.

What you need: Thin paper and sharp scissors, pencil is optional. Children have fun making large snowflakes that are not folded as many times (making the cutting easier). A teacher friend shared the idea to use coffee filters because they are thin and already round.

How to do it: Make a piece of paper square by folding one corner across to form a triangle, then cutting off the rectangle formed beyond the triangle. Fold one pointy corner to the other. Using the fold as your reference, since the center of the fold will become the middle of the snowflake, fold this new triangle in half again, then again. You should have a cone to work with.

Or trace a circle the size you want your snowflake to be. Cut this out and fold in half, then quarters, then again.

Either method, we are now at the same spot. For the first time, especially for children, you may want to use the pencil to draw some triangles to outline where to cut. Make a snip cutting off the center point. Next zigzag or make cuts into the ice cream edge of the cone. Leave some space between the snips. Then cut out small snips into the sides of the cone being sure not to go all the way from one side to the other. When you have cut as much as you like, open the paper carefully. You have made snow.

Cookie cutter crafts

We had so much fun baking cookies with the girls that we began giving each her own cookie cutters, adding new ones each year.

We have a tradition of giving sugar cookies to each member of the family, usually gingerbread boys and girls decorated with sprinkles. The girls carefully make and decorate, then decide which ones will go to whom. A recent year found us still baking on Christmas day because the girls insisted that we had to have the cookies.

When it come to making decorations, cookie cutters seem to offer an endless array of ideas.

What you need: You can use paper, felt, or craft foam. Glue and scissors. Bits of ribbons, fabric, felt, craft foam and wrapping paper. Wiggle eyes are optional.

How to do it: Trace out with the cookie cutter of choice. Cut and decorate.

Here is the recipe I’ve used for nonedible cinnamon craft dough:

4 parts ground cinnamon

3 parts applesauce, unsweetened

1 part glue

I used a plastic disposable teaspoon to measure out the ingredients into a plastic bowl. Stir together. The dough is quite moist but dries quickly as you work with it. The 4 teaspoons cinnamon mixture makes four small dough ornaments. I used separate batches to make more. The dough handles very easily.

Roll out onto a very lightly floured surface. Cut out with cookie cutters. Use a straw to make a hole in the top. I used a spatula to move the finished ornaments to a cooling rack. Let dry for 48 hours. These are fragile, so handle carefully. Tie a pretty ribbon through the hole when ready to hang. These ornaments smell wonderful.

Some other ideas

Making felt mice candycane holders. Decorating pine cones with glitter to make ornaments. Or spread peanut butter onto a pine cone, roll in birdseed and tie a bright red piece of yarn to the top, then hang outside for the birds. Make a bracelet of bells, put it on and go caroling. Have a holiday movie night. Bake cookies, pour some milk and sit around the table and enjoy each other’s company.

Teachers the girls have had, Girl Scout events we participated in, the Stanton Bird Club Junior Naturalists, the Maine Audubon Society at Gilsland Farm all have contributed to this article.