More modern AU and kiddy fic for your pleasure ;) Not to be that kind of person but… it's 9 days to Christmas!

Prompt : "Are - are those supposed to go on the tree?"

Out With The Old, In With The New

The children's chatter was a welcome and familiar noise in the background as they dug in an old cardboard box full of peeled tinsels that must have been at least twenty years old. The whole box looked so unsanitary that Effie was very tempted to drag Peeta away from it – and Katniss and Prim. But the two eleven year-old and the six year-old looked happy enough and she let it rest, focusing instead on the boxes at her own feet.

Haymitch stood next to her, glancing from the brand new huge tree now occupying a corner of his living-room to the boxes. He was unconsciously rubbing his neck, probably a bit embarrassed.

Effie cleared her throat and fished an ornament from the box. The bauble's color had once been a deep cheerful red but had since faded to a vague pinkish tinge. It looked terrible.

Truth be told, everything that was in the boxes he had carried down from his attic looked terrible.

"Are…" she hesitated. "Are those supposed to go on the tree?"

Because it would look ugly and if she had realized, she wouldn't have encouraged him – or encouraged Prim and Katniss to encourage him – to take the biggest tree in the shop. The ornaments and tinsels would probably have looked less out of place on a smaller, less majestic tree.

"I guess…" He made a face.

She made a face too, probably for different reasons. She wasn't sure how much she could push. She was aware she pushed him out of his comfort zone a lot on a regular basis and without even trying. Their relationship was serious and steady but barely six months old and for a former commitment-phobic man, he was doing as well as was expected but there were hiccups. And she was a naturally pushy person who had to curb her instinct at every turn not to spook him away. And that was without taking into account the whole added pressure of the children who had come to be in their care during the last year.

"They must have a lot of sentimental value…" she ventured, glancing at Prim who had just draped a long tinsel lacking half its fluff around her tiny neck like a boa. She had to resist the urge to snatch it away and make her wash both her hands and her neck. She could see the dust flying everywhere from where she was. She could see it on the little girl's yellow sweater too.

Haymitch would just tell her to let the children play though, that it wasn't actually dramatic if they got dirty, that they could just wash everything after… It was not how she had been brought up and she still cringed every time she saw Katniss and Peeta crawling home covered in mud but she was doing better about it.

"Not really." He shrugged, taking another bauble from the box and holding it out to the light. It may have had glitter on it once. It was hard to say. The next one he took out was a snowman who had longed stopped being white to turn an unflattering tinge of yellow.

"But they are ancient." she blurted out, unable to stop herself any longer. And it was obvious.

She and Peeta had decorated their own tree the previous day and you only had to look at the type of ornaments to figure that out. Haymitch's were decades old. She knew he procrastinated a lot but not to have bought any new Christmas ornaments recently?

She honestly expected an argument, perhaps even a remark about how they didn't all love spending hours shopping in crowded shops…

"Yeah." he admitted, pulling another face. He looked at the children, spotted the tinsel around Prim's neck and the dust coating her sweater… "Take that off, sweetheart. It's yucky."

"It's disgusting." Katniss snorted, finally noticing what her sister was up to and gently snatching the tinsel away. "And the ones at the bottom are rotten, I think."

"Do you have mice in the attic?" Peeta asked with a frown, inspecting the lapels of the box. "Because I think something nibble on this…"

"Mice?" Effie shrieked, taking an instinctive step closer to Haymitch and barely resisting the urge to climb on the couch. "You have mice in your house? In a house I have slept in? In a house you keep my children in?"

He shot her an annoyed look that she clearly interpreted as 'the girls are not yours but I can't say as much in front of them without making a mess' , which was ridiculous because she considered the girls to be hers the same way she knew he considered Peeta to be his.

"Got some a few years ago." he grumbled. "Got rid of them. Don't get your panties in a twist."

"Rude!" she snapped, while the children all giggle at themention of panties. "And, excuse me, for worrying about rodents when boxes in your attic are in this state…"

Again, he made a small face. That made three in ten minutes, that wasn't like him.

"They were at the back…" he muttered, low enough that the children may not hear. "Haven't decorated for Christmas in two decades… Didn't really think…" His eyes darted to the girls and back to her, betraying the thought he wasn't finishing.

He hadn't had the girls yet last Christmas and the year had been so full of unexpected developments that he hadn't really thought this Christmas through.

Effie pursed her lips thoughtfully, looking at the few boxes and easily making the math. Even if they used the washed out decorations, the tree was so big it wouldn't be enough.

"Do you care about any of this?" she asked, lowering her voice too even though it wasn't entirely necessary anymore. The children had lost interest in the sad decorations and were leaving the room. Probably to go to the kitchen and steal some of the Christmas cookies Haymitch had helped Peeta bake earlier – Peeta loved to bake and she was hopeless at it so she had declared Haymitch was in charge of supervising that activity and she would teach the girls fancy ways to do their hair. "About the baubles, I mean. Anything you would care to keep?"

He shook his head, looking lost. "I don't know, princess… Don't think I've taken them out since my family…" He let the explanation trail off but quickly shrugged again. "Don't think there was anything special about any of them though. Mostly it was cheap, you know?"

She did not.

Because in her house everything had been expensive and easily replaceable according to that year's fashion.

She on the other hand had a cherished golden star trinket that went on top of the tree and that she had been taking religious care of since she had bought it for herself at eighteen. Her first Christmas in her own home. The golden star had been symbolic of the fame she was about to reach – or so she had thought.

"I think we should toss it all away." she advised. "I do not see anything worth saving if you don't particularly care about it."

He sighed but granted her the point by pressing a kiss on her cheek. If his hand lingered a little at the small of her back, short of traveling into indecent territory, neither of them commented. "Get the kids ready?"

"Of course." She grinned, planting a longer peck on his lips before sauntering toward the kitchen.

Maybe she would steal a cookie for herself. It wasn't really compatible with her diet but Haymitch did like to say she was gorgeous and could use to gain a few pounds instead of losing them so…

"Children!" she called. "Coats on! We are going Christmas shopping for pretty decorations!"

The children greeted that announcement with happy exclamations. Effie refrained from doing the same. And yet… She was glad she had gotten her way and without having to push him in the end.

Well, Effie does love to get her way XD Did you like it? I hope you did! Let me know!