CHRISTMAS CACTUS

A 7-inch single released for Record Store Day's Black Friday event on November 27, 2020, restricted initially to US stores.

On transparent magenta coloured vinyl, the single featured two original "holiday" songs - Christmas Cactus and Red Poinsettia.

American Laundromat Records reissued the single on "coke bottle clear" vinyl in the summer of 2021, and the two tracks were released for streaming platforms on August 20, 2021.

Red Poinsettia was all new (described by Juliana "a Christmas murder ballad,”) while Christmas Cactus was a new version of a song dating back to 2016, when it was briefly available as a home recording at Juliana's official site, and played live several times since.

Juliana spoke with James Sullivan for the Boston Globe about the release:

Christmas Cactus “has been kicking around for years.” She wrote it as an ode to an actual Christmas cactus, a Brazilian plant that tends to bloom around the holiday season in North America. Hers, she says, refused to bloom, despite its otherwise seemingly robust health. “Time stands still/On the windowsill,” she coos.

“I have faith that someday it may bloom,” she says, explaining the song. “But if it doesn’t, that’s OK, too.”