It is probably a Schlumbergera (Christmas or Thankgsgiving cactus). When people have an old "Holiday cactus" it is almost exclusively a Schlumbergera, and the Easter cactus does not produce much aerial roots, if any. These plants do not have leaves, only stem segments (cladodes). You mean that the plant dropped all green segments leaving only the oldest, corky ones, right? I have seen it happen before, and the big plant often ends up dead or growing poorly, so I really think you should take a few spare cuttings and root them. No new roots? How can you see that if you don't repot it yourself? No roots growing out of the holes in the bottom of the pot? It sounds as if it has some aerial roots growing out from some of the segment joints. I find these useful when I take cuttings from my plants, they root faster. Cut in half? How? A horizontal cut at the center of the base segment? Well, it doesn't really matter, old segments are very difficult to root. The best way is to cut off (at the joints) some green segments and root them. Then you will have some spare plants while you observe the development of the mother plant.

We use last year's cards as TO/FROM tags on this year's gifts. Even on picture cards there is usually something worth saving to make a tag out of. Of course we never need all the cards as tags and so they all sit in the box. The picture cards are there too and it is fun to come across them as I search for the right tag material.

Cool, I HAD to get them out.... I defend my dissertation Wed morning and this weekend, I have to make any and all corrections my committee wants. Still have some more hurdles before graduation but I am getting there!

Pls. water it, it looks quite thirsty. Is the existing soil hard to the touch? I'd buy some African Violet mix & Perlite & mix them 50/50 for a complete repotting after removing all the old soil. That will give it some of the organics mentioned above, but will be a bit lighter than C&S mix. I learned this the hard way myself. C&S mix is just too heavy for these, AV soil does better in my experience ,along w/ 50% perlite. If I may, I believe Rina's last line meant to say there is nothing WRONG with healthy woody parts, as the plant gets older ... (she forgot the 'wrong'). Lena