Thank you for your response Karen.

The reason the roots aren't there and the stem was just cut off was due to it being in the pot for years and stuck in there pretty good. It was late at night and there weren't many people that thrilled to dump it out so I broke the stems, trying to get down as far as I could.

I potted up the nice green one like you suggested and it still looks good!

From what I could see that is not S. truncata, the common plant called a Christmas Cactus today. I am thinking that it is likely to be S. xBucklii, a plant known as the Christmas Cactus. XBucklii is fairly easy to find when buying old plants at a garage sale, estate sale, or moving sale.

To my eye, they look wilted and stressed because they're dehydrated. Not sure if they were wilted before the cut. The end of the stem in the 2nd pic is brown. Is it soft, squishy? Just checking. If they're all this way, my guess is root system in original plant was compromised. Hard to guess without seeing original plant condition and mix it's in.
Otherwise, perhaps the stems were cut some time ago before you received them and so have not been able to take in water and show the stressed wimpy results. I would cut small sections until green appears. Then, I would let the cut end dry and callous a few days before potting up in a well draining mix.

In any case, doesn't seem diseased to me. The plant you have looks much bigger than mine and I imagine the mother plant is quite large. My cactus that's similar (don't have exact name/species) has center portions that develop thicker brown "trunks" as they age and are much smaller as a whole plant than your cut stems.

Yes, I'd say the parent was probably overwatered and the stems had lost their roots...and thus look dessicated. I've seen it before.

Sorry Melissa,

Seems I forgot, I should have also suggested to take multiple cuttings of the newer growth & pot up a bunch separately to restart the plant. Like 3 or 4 cuttings each of 3-4 segments in length per 3" pot.

'Melissacovell'....do you have any more of that Christmas cactus, now growing? Or does your mother have a big plant if it, that maybe she would take some cuttings off of it?

I lost mine a few years ago, over 150 yrs old, gone. Between the post office knocking it over and killing half of it, (when we use to get phonebooks delivered to our homes...they just threw them on the porch, and hit the cactus and it fell and snapped it in half,) and only the other half rooted.

The half that lived, but never really got over the shock i guess. It slowly died year after year, it slowly died, stem at a time. Till it was gone.

I got through Hurricane Irma, but it killed my garden/yard, and my cactus collection, my huernia/orbea collection. My hoya collection, everything was destroyed. All my plants. I now have a bare yard, with tree stumps and a huge mountain of dead tree limbs/plants.

I would LOVE to get some of that 'old fashion' Christmas Cactus....if you happen to see this, leave me a note. I miss that plant so much. Its lovely pink/lavender bloom at Christmas time. Your 'message option' is not working in your profile, so I couldnt make this plea for cuttings in private. Thank you.

When I started my Christmas cactus, I broke off about 3 inch fronds (pieces) and put the ends in water.....they will grow roots and you can then plant them.....or if you plant in cactus soil, no need to root the plants....just keep damp for a couple of weeks. I prefer the rooting in water method....just be sure to plant when roots are less than 1/2 inch. The two I started a year ago are booming now....late for Christmas but nevertheless very pretty.