Christmas Cactus

It’s been a bit of a wonky Christmas vacation week in our house. I caught a nasty head cold on Christmas Eve, and of course Peanut Maximus got it as well at the end of the week, so we haven’t been out and about even though the weather has been nice all week. It feels like forever since we’ve gotten outside because the two weeks before that involved a warm blizzard followed by a bone-chilling cold blizzard.

In the meantime, the big kids have been shoveling maniacs, although they don’t really think shoveling is fun at this point. Still, they have had pretty good attitudes considering how much shoveling has taken place. I’ve been enjoying my adorable Christmas cactus that a student gave me last year. It has been loaded with bright pink blossoms, and they are so cheerful!

Grandma Kathy also gave me a Christmas cactus earlier this year that had been in her house. It had a bit of a rough transition to my house, but it is doing much better now with the right kind of pot, and it also has a few blossoms that are getting ready to bloom. Considering I thought it might actually die (part did!), I am pretty impressed that there are any blossoms.

In bits and pieces I have been reading lots of poetry and some piano pedagogy books. I have a stack of fiction books to read that I am just itching to start, but I have to wait for the right time because I know how I am with fiction. I can’t stop when I start, and sometimes that leads to neglectful parenting.