Poinsettias

I am in Christmas mood because of the cold. I bought some Christmas Poinsettia, one yellow and one red. Those plants are Mexican in origin (Most now are grown in the U.S. and sold here at Christmas time) and do not tolerate freezing weather well. But if planted in a mostly shady area of the yard (next to the house or fence, away from the sun) they will grow in New Orleans and flower into a beautiful and large plant.
I have one in my yard that is near the swimming pool, but out of the sun. It's been there for to years, even surviving the hurricane of 2005. I will plant these two after Christmas in my back garden for some color. They can grow as much as 10 feet tall in some climates (but only about 5 feet here)
Many people buy those plants this time of year as gifts because of their great beauty as an indoor Christmas display. They are bred to come in many colors, with red or pink and white the most preferred. I have a couple of pictures below to show. The plant has a dark green Christmas colored leaves as base below and the colored leaves near the top. I like to keep them in their container with some red or green foil on the outside as decoration, and place them on the porch outside the front door.
After January 1st they are sometimes planted in the garden because Poinsettias can not survive in a container for more than a few months. Haha I know what you are thinking. Jim's plants will probably die before he even has a chance to plant them.
Sigh...it has happened before. Santa may be goose stepping this year in Germany. Well, that is the opinion of some German customers of the Rossmann chain of 1,200 shops that has been selling figures depicting Santa which has its right arm stiffly upright toward the sky, a replica of the Nazi salute many Germans employed before from the 1920's to the end of W.W.II. The customers said Santa had been transformed into a Nazi in a red suit with black boots.
So Rossmann pulled the figures from the shelves and "exterminated" them in their ovens. The Rossmann stores say they were surprised at the negative reaction to the Nazi Santa figures. Ha! Isn't that what the original Nazi's used to say when they were questioned about their own atrocious behavior?
Hmmmmmmm I guess without Nazi Santa, some Germans will have an un Merry Christmas this year