Have a hippy Christmas!

The arty Californian community of Laguna Beach has a curiously cool way of commemorating Christmas. The perfect place for beach bums, surfers, artists and retired rock musicians, it is also the beautiful backdrop for Oliver Stone’s violent new film, Savages. Anyway, check out these fabulous hand painted Christmas decorations…

ShopCurious hopes you have a very hippy Christmas.

 Will you?

Crackers for Christmas cactus?

Is anyone a grower of cactuses – or should I say cacti? If so, do you have any of the variety that only flower once a year… usually around Christmas time? I’ve been doing a survey of cactuses cacti because they’re such curious plants. I spotted this giant flowering cactus in Sausalito - it must have been at least 10 feet tall.

And below are some scarily spiky cactus leaves seen in Laguna.  I rather like the idea of carving out a message for posterity… but I wouldn’t want to harm the long term health of the natural vegetation (or myself) in the process.

Closer to home, I saw this seriously strange looking specimen at the Chelsea Physic Garden.

Oh, and we’ve got some curiously exotic one-of-a-kind vintage style cactus brooches at ShopCurious. They’re made from upcycled stones, shells and glass - arranged into colourful mosaics by artist-designer Annie Sherburne.

Never mind Christmas, you can give unusual gifts at any time of the year.  And if you’re totally cactus crazy, the British Cactus and Succulent Society produces a quarterly magazine called Cactus World… 

Are you?