Every so often I get comment and questions from readers asking questions that I think others might be interested in  hearing the answer to so I answer them here on the blog.  Today is one of those days.
I got a comment the other day from a blog reader that asked about my holiday decorating….I’ll be honest, I laughed right out loud. Â Right now my only decorating is blank walls with nail heads. Â Honest…well that and dust. Â I live with dust at both houses….at the farm here it’s regular old house dust and in town it’s construction dust. Â I haven’t decorated a thing at all. Â We’re all just too busy.
I had another blog reader ask if I was putting my Christmas tree up here at the farmhouse or at the house in town. Â The answer is neither. Â I’m not putting up a Christmas tree. Â I just don’t have time to take a half day to put one up and a half day to take one down. Â I’ve never been a big holiday decorator so it doesn’t bother any of us. Â I am a seasonal decorator though and I have now missed decorating for Spring, Summer and Fall of this year. Â I have a feeling I might go a little crazy once we are actually in the new house. Â For the most part I don’t miss it though. Â Both of us are so tired at night we don’t even make it into the living room.
In fact we tried to remember the last time both of us were in the living room at the same time. Â It was sometime last Spring when Kalissa and Craig brought a movie over they thought we’d like to watch.
I had a comment from Mary, “Hang in there, Jo! You’re really close and it’s almost harder than when you couldn’t see any progress. You know I know what I’m talking about. Focus on Christmas 2015 – won’t it be wonderful?”
Well being I have no Christmas decorating up when I was in town at Home Depot I took Mary’s advice to heart. Â They had a big display of Christmas plants…including this guy.
…a Christmas Cactus. Â It needs a little attention but it was only half price. Â My mom had one and she said my Grandma Johnson always had one. (I love things reminiscent of home) Â The plant only blooms once a year and that’s at Christmas time.
The blooms are fading but there seem to a few more to bloom yet. Â I bought it with Mary’s advice in mind…Focus on Christmas of 2015! Â The cactus will help me do exactly that. Â Thanks for the advice Mary. Â It’s just what I needed to hear.
So for now our only decoration is the Christmas Cactus and we’re okay with that.
Don’t know how your Christmas cactus will do, but I have three that never seem to know when to bloom. They bloom at Easter, the bloom late fall and now they are blooming again! I am not complaining because they are beautiful!
Mine also don’t bloom at Christmas, but just before Thanksgiving and again around Easter. My aunt says that it isn’t really a holiday gathering until someone knocks the cactus over. :)
No guilt about not decorating. . .you are putting your energy where it is needed most! Enjoy. One more day to break for me, and then my sewing machine and I are going to BOND! :)
Mine just opened the first blooms this week. So Christmas it is for my plants. I have a slightly different looking one that was sold as an Easter Cactus and yes it blooms late April.
If you can put the cactus in a spot that only gets daylight sunshine, you will probably get more blooms on your new plant. I used to have one, and it got North- Eastern daylight inside. My friend also had one, and hers did just fine with only Northern light.
I haven’t decorated in a long time for Christmas. As a pastor I used to go all out decorating for my Christmas open house at the parsonage. Then it got harder and harder for people to work into their busy schedules the open house so I switched to a Spring tea. We were always gone on vacation from Christmas day through New Years so I quit decorating. Now that I am a widow and my first Christmas alone I have no motivation to decorate. Maybe next year.
My Christmas Cactus blooms in Oct! Occasionally in November! Crazy thing! But it will be done soon and this will all be a HORRIBLE messy memory.