2024, books, Family, holidays, Nature, Uncategorized

Poinsettias!

26 Comments

When I was growing up, we were not a poinsettia household.  I think a lot of it stems from money; my dad didn’t really come into his own, career-wise until I was almost out of elementary school.  There are plenty of memories of my mom saying “don’t ask for that in front of your father” kinds of things.  We weren’t destitute by any means, but there wasn’t a lot of disposable income for seasonal house decorations.  We always had a tree and a wreath on the door, but no little villages, no strings of lights on trees in the yard, no dishes of holiday candy and no poinsettias.

I’ll admit I’ve gone a little overboard in the other direction, but I never thought much about poinsettias until I was working in the bookstore and came across The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie dePaola.  This book became the first in my collection of children’s holiday books. 

When YA was little, I would bring them all down and we read at least one a night during December.   And it was then that I first added poinsettias to my holiday décor.

But red is really the only color for poinsettias in my book.  I have a close friend who adores all things pink and she would always have a pink poinsettia on her desk during the holidays.  Bleech.  I do own a silk white poinsettia; I probably got it back when I had quite a few silk plants – a very silly phase I admit.  I still put it out although YA doesn’t like it and it’s not my favorite either.

We usually get two big poinsettias for the mantel.  Some years, if the spirit moves us, we get another one for in the dining room.  AND for many years we got a teeny one for Nimue.  She would happily munch her little one and leave the big ones alone.  Not sure why.  (I DID THE RESEARCH… a cat would have to eat hundreds of poinsettias to be affected by the toxin.  We’d ALL have to eat hundreds.)  This year, since Nimue has slowed down a bit as she ages, she no longer jumps up on the mantel.  Since the big plants are safe, we skipped the kitty-poinsettia.  She gets enough treats.

Poinsettia shopping happened at Gertens this year; YA has decided she really likes Gertens.  As we were walking through the greenhouse, we came upon some truly hideous specimens.  Purples, pinks, turquoise, blue.  And glitter.  Ick.  YA knows I don’t like these so she has to tease me.  This year she suggested we get one of each color to “celebrate the rainbow”.  I’d have to be sedated every time I came into the room!

Poinsettias?  Yes or no?  Red?  White?  Pink?  Colors of the rainbow?  Glitter (I promise I won’t judge)?

26 thoughts on “Poinsettias!”

  1. My childhood home was, similarly, free of Poinsettias. I suppose I was a teenager before I even noticed them anywhere (which doesn’t mean they weren’t around, just that I was oblivious).
    I was kind of stunned when I arrived at a little college in the San Gabriel Mountain foothills in 1974 to find large poinsettia shrubs all around one of the women’s dorms. Then I began to notice (though, maybe this had more to do with the women than with the flowers).
    From the time I was 25 until I retired at 67, I spent most of my years in southern Taiwan. I recall trips to a foothill village where the road is lined with poinsettia shrubs , in bloom, most of the year.
    The little plants, suitable for decorating the front of a church, or someone’s desktop, are a disappointment to me. They are lovely, without a doubt, but disappointing, nonetheless.

    Liked by 5 people

    Reply

  2. Red. I used to buy one for my abode many years ago and even tried to (unsuccessfully) keep one blooming through the summer. The prettiest one I have seen was a large shrub while in Kenya – it was stunning. I didn’t know they grew so large.

    OT: VS, thank you for the birthday card….it is very appropriate for one who loves to read and spends much time in libraries.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  3. Yes, all those colors remind me of that ad where the woman says (as lightning strikes) “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature”. I like red and white, otherwise – wait till Easter!

    Somehow I missed that book, VS – will check on it.

    I love seeing poinsettias in places where there is enough space to show them off. Our house is not one of them, though one year we received one as a gift, and had to carve out a spot.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  4. Red, and definitely NO blue or sparkles! The white ones are okay, I guess, but if I wanted white flowers for Yule I’d have roses instead.

    At least once Mom bought a live poinsettia, but it never bloomed again, so she found a nice artificial one–the flowers and leaves were made of pipe cleaners, with little clusters of string lights in the centers, as I recall, and probably bought at a craft sale at Signal Hills Shopping Center in West St. Paul. Lasted years, and I think I kept it until I had to clean out the old house when Dad went to assisted living. As my roommate and I constantly remind each other, you can’t keep everything, especially when you live in an apartment…

    –Crow Girl

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  5. I’m not surprised, VS, that you have a good collection of Christmas books – I’d love to know what other Babooners have in their stash.

    I now have just a few favorites: Santa’s Toy Shop, The Night Before Christmas, Christmas in Noisy Village, and Merry Christmas, Festus and Mercury. (I highly recommend this last author, Sven Nordquist – the sense of humor and little gnomes hiding within the illustrations…)

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  6. When I was working at the flower shop I liked some of the marbled poinsettias. They had names like Christmas Beauty, and were usually shades of pink and ivory. The red poinsettias were fine, but I saw so many of them they didn’t seem special. A little shimmer of glitter is fine, not too heavy please.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  7. My mother used to get a poinsettia for Christmas and I did as well earlier in my marriage. They were always red. We all stopped getting them because of the toxic effect on cats and haven’t had poinsettias for many years. My mom switched to Christmas cactus, which is pretty.

    Hearing from VS that her cat ate poinsettia with no ill effects is a big surprise. I don’t think I’ll get any poinsettias, though. They take up a lot of space and by the time the tree and all the other decorations are up, there isn’t any room for it.

    The MN Landscape Arboretum displays a huge “tree” made up of red and white poinsettias. It’s a spectacular sight if you ever get out to the Chanhassen area.

    I have several Christmas books among the children’s books I’ve kept, including The Polar Express, The Nutcracker, Jingle, the Christmas Clown (de Paola), Carl’s Christmas, and The Tailor of Gloucestershire (my favorite). I have quite a few others that are wintery but don’t mention Christmas. The Mitten by Jan Brett is a good one.

    For myself, I have a book called A Christmas Treasury that contains Christmas stories and poems, including A Christmas Carol and other classics.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

        3. Truman Capote’s a Christmas Memory is my all time favorite. I read it every year and have for a long time. Some years ago I read it aloud for seniors in nearby nursing homes. It’s such a great story.

          Liked by 1 person

  8. My mom always loved to have a big red poinsettia on the dining room table. I like the natural red ones; I also like some that have a deeper red, almost burgundy, color. I’m not a fan of the glittery, artificial looking colors.

    I do like them, but I don’t buy them due to limited space here. My house just looks so cluttered, even though I’ve downsized a lot of my stuff. I simply have no available spot to put a plant like that.

    I have Charles Dickens’ ‘The Christmas Carol’. I’ve read and reread it. It’s really the only Christmas book I have.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  10. We had them in our house as a kid, and I think we’ve received a few as gifts in recent years, but I can take them or leave them. I won’t refuse one as a gift.

    Colors? Red. Maybe white, but anything else seems fake. Also, our economies way of getting us to spend more money. Give us more choices so there’s “something for everyone’s taste.” That’s why we have 57 types/brands of toothpaste, 199 different cereal choices, and countless brands of frozen pizza, packaged dinners, soft drinks, flavored waters, etc.

    Chris in Owatonna–who was so proud he recognized Krista last night at the Northfield Winter Walk BEFORE she identified herself! 🙂 🙂 🙂

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  12. Ah, I just found an anthology I’d forgotten about, A Christmas Feast: a Treasury of Yuletide Stories and Poems for the Whole Family, ed. 1976 that contains poems and stories from everyone you would expect, from Agatha Christie and Sherlock to Louisa May Alcott and Dickens – O. Henry, Hans Christian Anderson…

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  13. We had red ones. Always came from the church. You’d buy one and the alter was covered in them. Not sure I’d go out of my way to find one myself, but yeah, there they are.

    Tomie dePaola – way back when, there was a children’s theater Director here in Rochester that adapted one of his books into a play, Helga Dalry, and Tommy came and saw it. I don’t remember if I met him or just saw him in the building, but yes I’ve always enjoyed his books.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  15. Poinsettias were not part of any Christmas tradition that I grew up with, but I like them in their “natural” colors. None of those sparkly or weird colored ones for me. I also never liked flocked Christmas trees.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

Leave a comment