Chapter 16: Christmas with two families

[Winter after the 71st Hunger Games]

Right after the victory tour Christmas preparations started in the district. Not official ones, as Christmas was not a big deal for the Capitol, but for us normal citizens it was important, and we were lucky that the Capitol had not dared yet to take those holidays away from us.

Except for the mayor's family and Haymitch and a very few others, none of us were rich, and we usually tried to prepare presents to others using what we had available. For us bakers this was an easy thing. We had that long standing tradition to fill small bags with Christmas cookies, and we used those bags as presents for almost everybody. This year, my brothers and I had started early to prepare the new plant and flower book for the Everdeen family. We had taken the official 'Panem Flora Illustrated' as reference, we had borrowed the old and very worn handwritten book from the Everdeens for a few weeks, and in addition I had found a few old books on plants in the school attic while cleaning up there. Further, we had tried to get more input when we were walking around the district with Prim. I had spent a lot of time carefully writing the text, with some help from Wheat, and Peeta had done all of illustrations in a really artistic way. Dad had supplied the money to get high quality paper and pens for the book.

For this year's holiday season, Dad mentioned that hew was feeling a little lonely just with us boys, and he asked us:

"Boys, don't you think that it would be nice to have some female company around for Christmas? We always start the holidays in the evening of 24th, and this is not going to change, but why don't we invite the three Everdeen ladies for the day after? Would that be all right for you?"

I just smiled, as I knew that Dad would know my answer to that. Wheat nodded, and Peeta blushed just a tiny little bit, but also nodded. Dad beamed and talked on:

"Good, than this is decided. I will walk over to them later on and hand over my personal invitation."

This was just fine to me, and I was truly looking forward to having my lovely girlfriend at our place together with her sister and mother. However, Christmas was still a few days ahead, and the time I did not spend at work I was asked to help in the bakery. It looked like everybody wanted to have some special food for Christmas, and pastries and cakes were part of that, at least for the Townies who could afford it. The butcher next door worked additional shifts as well, as we noticed.

Peeta was of course handling most of the decorations, while Dad and Wheat did most of the baking. I ran the counter when I had some time and helped with filling the cookies into the bags, and each day we were exhausted when we could close the bakery. On one afternoon Prim stopped by after school, and I first saw her pressing her nose against the shop-window. Soon she stepped into the bakery and asked me:

"Rye, what are you doing?"

"Well, as you can see, I am serving customers."

"Good – I am a customer."

"All right – what would the young lady want to purchase?"

"I want to buy a couple of cupcakes, please, but I don't have any money"

"Hm, we usually don't hand over cupcakes for free – we need to find other payment instead. Let me see – you could help cleaning up the basement; I think it is very dirty!"

Prim shuddered.

"Don't like that? No cupcakes then, I guess."

Prim pouted now and looked at me with her big doe eyes while slightly tilting her head; she knew quite well that I could not resist her if she did that. Right away I started to smile and suggested:

"What about you helping me to fill the bags with cookies?"

"Yes!" she beamed now, "I would love to help with that!"

I called Wheat out to take over the counter and moved to the back with Prim. My father smiled at her when he saw her, and we went to the table with the cookies. I lifted up my girlfriend and sat her right on the table, placing a stack of small bags next to her.

"Why don't you hold the bags so that I can easily place cookies inside?"

Prim smiled and held the first bag. Having her holding the bags in front of me made it easier for me to fill them, and we made quick progress. Within half an hour all of the cookies were in bags and the chore was done.

"I think it's time for your payment for helping, don't you think so, Prim?"

She just nodded, and I handed her a plate with two cupcakes and an extra cheese bun. For the next ten minutes the blonde girl was busy eating, while still sitting on the table. When she was done, Dad called over:

"Hey, Prim, I have just finished the batter for another set of cookies. I could need some assistance for preparing the cookies from it – is that something you would like to do?"

"Yes!" she yelled, jumped down from the table, and ran over. For Christmas, we had little metal shapes, formed like a tree, a star, a sheep, and many more, and we used those to cut into the batter so that the cookies took those shapes. Some of the cookies were just finished like this after baking, whereas for others we put a thin layer of jam on top and added another cookie with the same shape on top. Others yet were covered in thin layers of chocolate or vanilla. Naturally, as we were the only bakery in the district, we had to prepare a huge amount of cookies, to cover demand from all citizens – well, Townies mostly – and fortunately the oven was large enough to be loaded with several large trays at once. Prim was up for some challenge, but she got to it and seemed to enjoy helping. It warmed my heart to see how much my girlfriend was accepted around here and to what extent my father considered her family.

Christmas Eve! Yes, it happened every year, but is was always something special for us Mellarks. Mother had not really been part of that tradition and had sometimes refused to celebrate with us, but we Mellark boys reveled in enjoying the afternoon and evening. Once again the four of us sat together, read a couple of chapters in a very thick old book which had somehow survived the war and the times after, had a nice dinner, and picked up our presents from their location under the small tree where we had placed them earlier. This was a time to feel happy and to dream of better times, without a dictator in the Capitol and with everybody being treated equally; well, we could always dream, I guessed.

Naturally, the funniest part of the evening was to unpack presents from Wheat, as he was always playing jokes on us. For Peeta he had somehow managed to get his hands on a small pamphlet with love poems, saying:

"Believe me, this will get you into Katniss' heart!"

By now all of us were aware of Peeta՚s crush on Katniss, but we had promised Peeta to keep it in the family. Wheat knew very well that Peeta would likely not dare to recite a love poem to Katniss, but he enjoyed Peeta՚s face when he realized what he had received. His present for me turned out to be a small packs of condoms, and I blushed a little when I noticed that. Of course he had some comments going along with that:

"You will need those sooner or later, believe me. The way Prim is sometimes glued to you, I am surprised that you have not done it yet. Or have you?"

All three of them started laughing at my expense, and eventually I joined in. Of course my brothers and my father knew exactly that I would not even think about getting that personal with my girlfriend before she was old enough, and I had told them earlier that Prim I had jointly decided to wait with having sex until she was out of reaping age and we were married. Well, to be honest, that was not entirely true, as I sometimes did think about it at least; I was a healthy teenager after all. Dad had told me:

"You know, son, if Wheat had told me something like that, I would not have believed it. From you, I do believe it, and I am proud of you for setting this goal. It is the right thing to do."

A couple of days earlier Katniss had delivered the traditional deer to our home, and in exchange for more bread, had skinned and parted it for us. A large piece of it was had been placed in marinade, which was prepared following an old family recipe, and in the morning of Christmas day, after a quick breakfast, we started the roasting. The bakery was open for a couple of hours only to give people a chance to get fresh bread if they wanted to, we handed over the last bags with cookies, and the feast could begin.

Right after bakery closing time Mrs. Everdeen came over with her two daughters, and of course she first asked if there was anything to help with. My father welcomed them:

"Mabel, I am very happy that you honor us with your presence. Preparing the feast is our task today, so please make yourselves at home here."

Katniss looked a little bit uncomfortable being here, whereas Prim had no such problems and stood close to our Christmas tree, admiring it and the decorations we had added to it. Not for the first time I noticed that Dad was frequently standing very close to Mrs. Everdeen, and the two of them seemed to be a little more than just friendly with each other. They were not touching a lot, but something was there. Could it be that they liked each other?

For the next couple of hours I was busy in the kitchen. I was actually quite decent in cooking and liked to do it at least as much as baking. Whereas Peeta excelled in baking and decorating, his cooking skills lacked; Wheat could cook, but did not normally want to, and Dad was okay with basic dishes, but lost with complicated recipes. Thus, the traditional venison roast had been mostly prepared by me since mother had left.

This year Prim joined me in the kitchen and was curious to find out what I was doing. I patiently explained and got her to help for a few simpler tasks, like forming the dumplings. When she watched me applying the final touches to the venison roast, she was getting curious about something:

"Rye, some girls say that I would need to learn to cook properly in order to be a good wife later on. Is that true?"

"Where does that come from now?" I inquired.

"You know, some girl talk at school."

"All right. No, I do not agree. When a couple gets married, it is certainly helpful that they have certain skills. If none of them can cook properly, they will eat poorly or they will have to find somebody else to cook for them. However, there is no rule saying that it needs to be the wife doing the cooking."

"So, when we get married and I am not good at cooking, this is not a problem?"

"No, it is not. I like cooking, and I probably won't mind doing that once we are married. Maybe you could handle the sewing and some other chores instead? And the gardening of course!"

"Hm, that might work. What other chores?"

"Got to admit that I really don't know. I haven't had my own place, and I am not sure. There is cleaning and washing the dishes and doing laundry, I guess, but probably more. Hey, if you want, why don't we ask your mom and my dad and write a list of chores. Then we can discuss who would focus on which chores and avoid having a fight later on when we are married – what do you think?"

"Yes, I like that!" Prim beamed.

Soon lunch was ready and we all enjoyed a wonderful and peaceful meal together, and it was time for the exchange of presents. Today's highlight clearly was the illustrated book we had prepared for the Everdeen family. All three of them were speechless for a few minutes after they had unpacked it, and even Katniss was quite impressed. The book had a number of empty pages at the back, so that additional content could be added at a later time, too.

In the afternoon, we were sitting together for a long time, exchanging memories and talking about ourselves and the district, and when we separated in the evening, we decided that we might want to celebrate again like this next year.

Some snow came down in the following weeks, but not much, and Katniss could still go hunting. More than once we got rabbits and squirrels from her, each time being shot expertly. Dad pointed out that Katniss obviously managed to hit animals right in the eye most of the time, which was quite some achievement, considering that sometimes the animals were moving.

In late January, snowfall intensified, and playtime was there for the kids. I could not resist the temptation to go over to the Everdeen home on a nice Saturday, with two snowballs hidden behind my back. I found Prim already out, playing with Lizzy, and when she saw me and turned in my direction, I quickly threw the snowballs and hit her with both of them right on the chest. My girlfriend stood there for a few seconds, not knowing what to say, before she smirked:

"That's what you want? All right, let's have it!"

Prim turned around to Lizzy and encouraged her:

"Come on, help me against Rye!"

I asked: "Isn't that unfair, two against one?"

Prim put up her face with big doe eyes: "But we are just two little girls against you big bear!"

I laughed and bowed down to prepare my next balls. Prim and Lizzy hid behind the fence and got busy, too. Soon we had a nice fight going on, with snowballs flying in both directions, some of them on target and some others not. It was not easy to hit the girls behind the fence, but I soon figured out that I needed to throw the snowballs high into the air to have them come down right behind the fence.

Katniss looked out of a window and showed some kind of amusement, while Prim took the opportunity to throw some snow in her direction; she managed to hit her sister right in the face, and Katniss' face was gone from the window in an instant. In order to do that, though, Prim had stepped away from her cover, and I used the chance to bombard her, succeeding to get some snow on her neck. She looked at me like I had overstepped some bounds and refreshed her own bombardment in my direction. For some more minutes snowballs flew in both directions once again, and Prim and Lizzy were for some time hidden from sight behind the fence and some rocks. When the amount of snowballs coming in my direction decreased, I knelt down, starting to prepare ammunition in advance for a major attack. Suddenly I felt a weight on my back, and as I was not prepared for that, I landed face down on the snow. My neck was feeling cold, and two small hands were busy shuffling snow under my collar, before I had a chance to react properly.

I pretended to be offended and growled: "Whoever this is - this was the last mistake you will ever make!"

I heard someone giggling and recognized the giggle as Prim՚s; of course, who else could it be. Obviously she had had Lizzy continue to attack and throw snowballs my way, while she had sneaked around to catch me unaware. When I got up again, Prim was already fleeing, and a significant amount of snow in my neck was now melting and running down along my spine. Hm, what would be the best way for revenge? I looked around and noticed a big heap of snow, where the snow which had been shoveled away from the walkway over the last days had been piled on. The heap was easily three meters high and mostly consisted of soft powder snow.

I started to growl again and tried my best to look angry. Prim was back with Lizzy behind the fence and was actually forward enough to stick out her tongue in my direction, mocking me. Slowly I stumped in her direction, forming more snowballs while slowly walking. Lizzy and Prim continued to bombard me, but that could not stop me. When I was close to the fence, they started to be concerned, and I could hear Lizzy asking Prim:

"Prim, what do we do if he does not stop?"

"Hm, I don't know – say 'pretty please', maybe?"

"Very funny; don't you think that we should better run?"

At that time I started to walk around the fence and got closer to them. Prim was now also worried, but claimed unwaveringly:

"I am not afraid – I will bravely defend our position!"

When I was just a couple of meters from them, Lizzy gave up and ran away, squeaking. Prim still formed more snowballs, but when she bowed down to get one, I picked her up around the waist and growled:

"Got you now!"

Now Prim also squeaked, but I was not done with her yet. I swung her around a few times and let her body go at the right time so that she landed head first in the big snow pile I had identified earlier. I had propelled her enough to make her entire head, upper body, and hips disappear inside the pile, whereas her legs were still free to twitch around. Seeing that I could not help myself and started laughing, and Lizzy, who had seen that, also joined in.

Mrs. Everdeen had heard the squeaking and laughing and looked out of her window, and when she saw Prim in the snow pile, she also laughed. Lizzy and I worked together to set Prim free, and after all the fun we were quite exhausted. Actually it turned out that Prim was getting cold; she had been outside playing in the snow long before I had arrived and needed to get warm again. Her mother looked at her and felt her temperature and then addressed me:

"Ryan, our house is not very warm, and we don't have heating in the bedrooms at all. Can you do me a favor and take Prim to your place and keep her warm for a few hours? As a matter of fact, Lizzy is as cold; let me check with her mother if she can go with you, too."

Lizzy's mother came over and checked out her daughter and also asked me to take her. She did not know me well, but knew that I was Prim՚s boyfriend, and she had learned form Mrs. Everdeen that I could be trusted, even though I was a 'Townie'. Thus I promised:

"Mrs. Everdeen, Mrs. Anderson, I will bring the two girls back before bedtime, and I will make sure that they are properly taken care of."

We hurried to the bakery and first we went upstairs. I showed the girls into my bathroom and handed out towels, suggesting that they take a hot shower first. Meanwhile I made sure that the living room was properly heated, which was basically always true as part of one wall was the backside of one of the bakery ovens. I spread additional blankets on the couch and prepared a pot of hot chocolate and a few pastries and cheese buns.

Soon the two girls came down, just clad in the big and fluffy towels, and I placed them on the coach, covering them with the thick blankets. I placed a small table next to them and served the pastries and hot chocolate, which they gladly accepted. Once I had made sure that they were both comfortable and warm I went upstairs to bring the girls' clothes into our drying room, which was also heated by the bakery ovens. When I had done that, I encountered my brother Wheat who had just seen the cuddled girls in our living room, and he smirked:

"What's up, Rye? Is one girl no longer enough for you now? Need a real Seam girl now, too?"

Lizzy looked indeed much more than a Seam girl than Prim did, and she had quite dark skin, grey eyes, and dark hair, just like Katniss. Unlike Prim, though, whose body was more on the skinny side, Lizzy had a more athletic body, and she was also more than half a head taller than Prim. When somebody asked her about that, she used to tell that this was due to her father's genes – Lizzy's father was one of the tallest and strongest coal miners in the district.

Teasing my brother I smirked back and replied: "No, you are right. I am thinking about a nice threesome..."

Wheat was confused for a few seconds, and I added: "… a nice threesome to sit on the couch, drink hot chocolate and east pastries."

My brother admitted: "Rye, you had me there for a moment. Okay, enjoy the girls!"

Back in the living room I asked: "Are you two ladies all right? Are you warm enough?"

Lizzy just smiled happily, and Prim told me: "Quite so, yes, just my feet are still a little cold."

"Oh, that is something we should better take care of!" I replied. Sitting down next to Prim, I started to dig in the blanket until I found her feet, and I pulled them on my lap. Using both of my hands, I initiated some feet rubbing and massaging, until I noticed that they were getting warmer. Lizzy looked over at Prim and told her:

"Prim, I have to admit that I am getting jealous of you for having such a nice boyfriend. I wish somebody took care of me like that!"

"Your father doesn't?" I asked.

"Oh, he does when he has time, but he has to work such long hours in the mines, that he is usually exhausted when he comes home during the week."

I nodded and asked Lilly: "Are your feet also a little cold?"

She nodded shyly, and I changed my position to be centered between the girls now. While moving Prim՚s feet over to my lap again, I encouraged Lizzy to do the same. She hesitated for a few seconds, but finally also stretched out her cold feet, and I did some rubbing on them as well. Prim now moaned happily, and Lizzy apparently enjoyed the attention as well.

Later on in the evening I fetched the clothes from the drying room, sent the girls upstairs to change, and finally brought them back home.

[Author's Note: My outlining of Christmas cookie preparations is probably not very good. I basically know how this is done, but it is hard to put it in words properly in a foreign language.]