Two days before Christmas, Haymitch and Katniss offered to go out and get a tree. Everyone was very excited by the prospect of decorating it and they had all said yes, apart from Effie herself. Effie had been horrified by the very notion, she had refused to have a tree in her apartment for years, having to clean up pine needles dropping off it plus the possible dirt it would bring in was not at all appealing to her, but she was apparently outvoted.

"In my own house!" she had cried dramatically while Katniss ushered Haymitch out the door quickly so she wouldn't barricade them in.

Peeta found boxes of unopened Christmas decorations in the closet in his room and once she had recovered a little she set about helping him and Annie to make her home look a little more festive. She liked decorating but there had never been much point. Her Christmas's had usually consisted of a party every evening, none of which she ever bothered to host, so decorating seemed a fairly futile gesture.

"Stay on theme!" she kept screeching at Peeta and Annie, pretending she didn't see the exasperated looked they shot each other when she did. She had decorations of every colour but after careful deliberation she had instructed them to use only the blue lights and the purple and silver ornaments. Annie had ridiculously asked why they couldn't just use the ones the liked best, to which Effie had frowned at her as though she was very offended until Annie sat down and started picking out things of the correct colours. "And remember, we don't want to over decorate!"

"I knew this wouldn't be fun." Annie huffed while Peeta tried not to laugh.

"Some of us are having fun!" Effie said brightly. "I love a theme!"

"Theme!" Annie's son parroted from where he was sat on the floor rolling stray baubles around. Effie beamed at him.

"That's right, darling!" Effie cooed at him, sweeping him up into her arms and ruffling his hair. She could only hope her own child would be as enthusiastic about themes as Annie's little boy was. She kept wondering whether it was going to be more like her or Haymitch. She hoped it took more after him, she worried and stressed over the most minor of provocations, she wanted her child to be a little more at ease than she ever was. Still, it would be nice to have a child who cared about themes and style too, if only to make a point to Haymitch that things like that were important and she wasn't the only person in the world who cared about them.

Effie didn't help much apart from advising (translation: dictating) exactly what Peeta and Annie should be putting where while she reclined on the sofa. They were done by mid-afternoon and Peeta suggested that they bake some sugar cookies while they waited for the other two to get back so they could decorate the tree and while Annie's son was sleeping. Annie agreed that this was a very nice idea, Effie only accompanied them because she was worried they might ruin her kitchen. Not Peeta who was an experienced baker and knew she liked him to tidy up after himself, but Annie who was an absolute disaster in the kitchen. Sure enough Effie was shrieking within ten minutes of them starting because Annie had got a speck of flour on her dress. Exasperated, Annie had then thrown an entire handful of flour at her not looking a bit sorry for it.

"I'll never get this out!" Effie wailed. Peeta patted her shoulder and was once again trying not to laugh while Annie rolled her eyes.

"It's just flour, Effie! Lighten up!" Annie said irritatedly. Effie glared but waited until the other woman had turned her back to stir the mixture before she grabbed the box and tipped a little more than she had intended onto Annie's head. Annie looked up, shocked, and Effie covered her mouth, disappointed by her own actions, hoping Annie didn't storm out of the house and never speak to her again. Annie grinned as she brushed the rather large pile of flour from the top of her head.

The next ten minutes consisted of them ruining Effie's kitchen completely, first with flour and Peeta trying to stop them, then with sugar and him giving up trying to placate them and hiding under the table to avoid the fire, and then with an egg landing by his feet and both women swearing that the other was the one who had thrown it. They were still blaming each other for that when Haymitch and Katniss appeared in the doorway.

"I see you've managed to amuse yourselves." Haymitch said with raised eyebrows. Effie and Annie looked at each other in embarrassment. It was not very often Haymitch managed to take the moral high ground.

"I think perhaps we got a little carried away…" Effie said in an uncharacteristic understatement as she looked around, wondering where to even begin cleaning it. She caught sight of her reflection in the glass cabinet, face, clothes, and hair all covered, and Annie looked no better next to her. The women looked at each other again and started laughing.

"I'm a mother! I shouldn't be engaging in food fights." Annie said, shaking her head. Effie had the urge to say something similar but didn't, although Haymitch was giving her a look that said he was thinking much the same. Annie misread this as Haymitch being annoyed with her. "Haymitch trust me, you would have done the same, she's driven us crazy with her Christmas theme today." Annie mimicked Effie's accent and sounded slightly hysterical as she said 'Christmas theme' and Effie pouted at the annoyingly accurate impression of her.

"Stop complaining about the theme!"

"Okay," Katniss said before they started throwing more things. "Let's start cleaning this up, Peeta, go help Haymitch bring the tree up, I'll help Annie and Effie and stop more chaos from happening." They all agreed to her plan.

"You are right though Annie, I probably would have thrown flour at her hours ago." Haymitch said as he left. Effie glared but Annie looked at her smugly. "And you can't say that it hasn't improved that dress." Peeta left the kitchen quickly, Effie suspected it was because he was worried he might get caught in a crossfire between she and Haymitch which was a valid concern.

It actually didn't take too long to get the kitchen back to normal, sweeping up the flour and washing the floor and surfaces was easy enough. Annie and Effie spent a large amount of time apologising profusely to each other while Katniss tried not to laugh at how ridiculous they both were. Within an hour the kitchen was immaculate and the pair were changed and back in the lounge to help decorate the tree. Effie wanted to remind them all about the theme but, fearing her front room would not be as salvageable as the kitchen, she decided not to. Haymitch noticed her worrying and put and arm around her and squeezed her tightly.

"I'll make sure they stay on theme, sweetheart." he said quietly to her which she realised later was a deliberate lie when he kept sneaking red and green baubles onto the tree ("But they are Christmas themed, Eff." "Not the right Christmas theme!") which she had to take down.

Her plan was only scuppered when Annie got her little boy up from his nap – Effie was amazed he had managed to sleep through the commotion in the kitchen – and he decided to help. Effie took charge of him to make sure his decorations were evenly spaced out and for the most part she managed the child well until he toddled off to the box of decorations and found a gold bauble under the table that he wanted to put on the tree.

"This one, Fie!" he insisted when she gently suggested he change it for another one. The others all seemed to be watching her now. Effie sighed but obliged. It made her skin itch to have something so out of place but even she couldn't shut down a child for something as pointless as this was. She did however make sure it went on the side of the tree that she wouldn't be able to see from the sofa or else it would make her uncomfortable until they took the tree down. Annie smiled at her gratefully and mouthed a 'thank you'. Effie was annoyed at herself for being duped into believing the child was enthusiastic about themes earlier and made a mental note to herself to go through all the decorations and pick a theme for next year and hide whatever wouldn't fit it.

"Don't worry." Haymitch said to her quietly while the others were all distracted in conversation. "Ours will be just as pedantic about these things as you are, I'm sure." Effie shook her head.

"No, I'm sure it will torture me like you do but perhaps that's a good thing." Haymitch smiled and took her over to the sofa where she would not be able to see the out of place ornament but she kept shifting uncomfortably. "I still know it's there." she sighed when he asked what was wrong now.

"He's going to notice if you take it down." Haymitch warned her.

"I know. I'll have to learn to live with it, I suppose."