How-To's Day: The Christmas Cactus

I finally have a how-to for you this week! (and there was much rejoicing....)  For years, Mamasita has had a fascination with the Christmas Cactus.  It's a very pretty plant even when it's not blooming, but the flowers themselves are especially pretty.  Christmas cacti are a good fit for our family because they are relatively easy to care for and keep on blooming year after year.  They are pretty hardy in-door plants, but every once in a while we accidentally knock off one of it's little branches.  The cool thing about Christmas cacti, though, is that  a broken branch has the opportunity to become an entirely new plant.  If you take the broken piece right away and set it in some water, after a few days you'll start to see little roots:

When those roots start to look strong enough, you can plant the new shoot in its own pot.  To help retain water, we always put a few rocks at the bottom:

Once you finish planting the cactus in the soil, you should water it to help it get over the shock of replanting:

When your cactus get's big enough, it'll start blooming; first with little buds...

Then the buds will get bigger...

And bigger...

Until they burst into full bloom!

What the camera wasn't able to capture is the natural sparkle that these flowers have, but as you can see, Mamasita's Christmas cacti blossom in glorious pink and white.  Christmas cacti can bloom in other colors, too, but I've only ever seen this one.  If you decide to try it, let us know if you have any questions!
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Just like everybody else, we have a whole bunch of Thanksgiving and family madness to partake in this week, so there won't be any more posts until at least next Monday.  In the meantime, I thank God for anyone and everyone who reads this blog and I ask His blessing on every single one of you, with a special intention that all of you who are traveling have safe and uneventful passage on your way.

Happy Thanksgiving!