LEWISTON — Gaston Plourde sat by his wife’s elbow, gently trying to make her smile. His whispers, looks and grins paid off every few minutes. Married 64 years, they met at the Hill Mill, when Irene was a loom girl and he worked the tying machine.

The morning’s assignment: making Christmas sugar cookies.

“I haven’t done that in ages,” Irene said, spreading flour into a big mixing bowl after a little encouragement.

“Well, it’s time to start,” Gaston said.

“You’re doing fine,” assured 85-year-old Martha Coolidge. Back in the day, she was in the kitchen all the time. “I cooked, cooked, cooked.” Pies, breads, ice cream made with maple syrup from her father’s trees.

Now, they have Fridays. The week before this, it was apple crisp. Next week it’s peanut butter cookies with Kisses.

The bowl was passed around the table. Butter in. Vanilla extract in. Egg in. Those sugar cookies were in business.

Friday mornings recreation therapist Miranda Rodriguez leads a baking class in the d’Youville Pavilion Marguerite’s Garden Memory Care Unit. Many residents have issues with dementia. It’s about making the setting as home-like as possible, Rodriguez said, and bringing back memories of themselves, mothers and aunts in the kitchen.

And, in the afternoons, enjoying whatever they’ve made.

This time of year, her mother used to make too many cookies, “like they’re falling out from heaven,” said Wilma Needham, 80. Wheeled up to the table, she rolled out the soft dough.

Gaston Plourde cheerfully passed when it came time for his own chance to mix and roll — “I don’t want to ruin it” — and handed over empty trays as Irene and the other women cut bells, stars and candy canes from the dough.

Needham’s baking advice: Don’t use too much flour. Coolidge’s advice to any would-be holiday chef: “You just have to keep trying.”

Keep in mind, too, they agreed, that making cookies for neighbors this time of year is good for keeping the peace.

“The neighbors don’t speak to you if you don’t,” Coolidge said.

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Therese Chouinard stirs a bowl of cookie batter while making sugar cookies at St. Mary’s d’Youville Pavilion in Lewiston on Friday.

 Residents of St. Mary’s d’Youville Pavilion in Lewiston made a tray of sugar cookies on Friday.

Gaston Plourde gives his wife, Irene, support as she makes sugar cookies at St. Mary’s d’Youville Pavilion in Lewiston on Friday. The Plourde’s met while working at the Hill Mill and have been married for 64 years.

Wilma Needham uses a cookie-cutter while making sugar cookies at St. Mary’s d’Youville Pavilion in Lewiston on Friday.

Wilma Needham rolls out the dough while making sugar cookies at St. Mary’s d’Youville Pavilion in Lewiston on Friday.