Work Text:
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
Your boughs can teach a lesson
That constant faith and hope sublime
Lend strength and comfort through all time.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
Your boughs can teach a lesson.
Peeta sent Hope early with Katniss when she left to hunt for a nice, fat turkey to mark the Winter Solstice along with Yuletide. Katniss grinned while Peeta helped heft and strap their rapidly growing toddler on Katniss’s back. His wife kissed him, warm and smiling against his lips before they left. Peeta rarely suggested Katniss take their daughter hunting, even though Hope made a pretend little bow last month from a crooked branch she found in their backyard. Hope usually stayed with Peeta at the bakery, getting her little hands full of cookie dough or her fingers dipped in icing; most often to the consternation of her mother and very occasionally her father, who could deny his daughter nothing.
Once Katniss and Hope were on their way, Peeta could hear the trilling sound of Hope’s giggles as her mother sang silly rhyming songs for her. His lips curled in a smile at the sounds – both the giggles of the little girl he adored and the singing of the wife he loved so passionately. Their voices dimmed once they traveled along the path through the snow that Katniss's soft boots had made days since the last winter storm. Peeta cocked an ear until he couldn’t overhear them any longer. Finally, after, all he could hear was the last few chirps of the mockingjays that carried Katniss’s tune, Peeta felt he could put his plan in motion. He began by preparing the necessities for their dinner and arranging all of the items he’d need and lay them out in their living area.
Yuletide was a tradition based on an ancient one from the dark days. After reconstruction was more or less completed in Twelve, the growing population began to enjoy the Harvest Festival again, even though the healing, thin ground hardly grew enough food for a family let alone the District. Their first Harvest Festival as a community consisted of bread, rolls and cookies from Peeta’s new bakery, turkey and fowl courtesy of Katniss, and varied platters and vegetables the other residents brought. Twelve’s population were part original inhabitants, such as Delly, Thom, Sae and Ripper, and part others that came from Thirteen and Eleven. They held their celebration in the town square where they ate, drank – especially Haymitch – and danced once Haymitch was drunk enough to play his fiddle in public. Even Katniss, who’d shared a glass of white liquor with Peeta, danced in his strong arms with her braid flying, singing along with the tune. Later that evening, she sang a different tune with Peeta’s lips at her throat to feel the vibrations her sighs and moans made.
And so they continued each year until it was suggested by their small council, of which Haymitch was a grudging member, that District Twelve reinstate Yuletide. Peeta remembered even as a child, during Winter Solstice, his eldest brother would be tasked to slaughter one of their pigs for a feast which brought their neighbors the Cartwrights over for a big meal that his parents would prepare. There would be the feast and wine and more laughter than was the norm in the Mellark household. Even his mother would allow candy in the house – for one night only. Peeta barely remembers the sliced ham he ate, but he vividly remembers the joy of sucking on peppermints in his bunk bed that night without the fear of reprisal.
The first Yuletide which was celebrated in Twelve, Katniss and Peeta took to hiding under the covers in their bed, sleeping – giving each other the pleasure that they’d been enjoying from before they were married when Peeta learned just how to ignite her, and even more since, when Katniss discovered how to inflame him – then sleeping some more. Both did not want to give this first celebration any untoward attention from the “star-crossed victors.” Plutarch sent cameras anyway. Haymitch shooed them away from the Victors Village, throwing empty bottles at their retreating backs.
The second Yuletide left Katniss and Peeta wishing they could spend it the same way as the year before, but that felt selfish now. Their community was growing. Marriages increased and babies were born. Peeta made enough cookies, with Katniss’s help, to deliver to all the families. They did exactly that, spending Yuletide morning delivering cookies, accepting drinks of cider and Katniss even sang a song or two for the little ones they visited. Both stopped by to give Haymitch his cookies and the bottle of whiskey Peeta had sent for by way of Effie.
The third Yuletide proved too busy for Katniss and Peeta to even remember or mark the day, as their beautiful, darling Hope had arrived only six weeks prior, and the new parents were left exhausted in her wake. Haymitch visited often but was left with no way to mentor his kids in their situation. His only contribution was holding Hope while Katniss dozed and Peeta tried to bake cookies. Fortunately, Delly had been assisting in the management of the bakery, leaving Peeta some much needed time off. Delly enlisted Thom to help deliver the cookies that year. Not long after, Delly and Thom added to the community’s population. Again and again. And again.
The fourth Yuletide found Katniss and Peeta desperately afraid as Hope suffered her first flu. Katniss ran the Victor’s Village’s hot water tank to its limit to steam Hope’s congested chest and Peeta wrapped their daughter nightly in three blankets and nestled Hope between them in their bed, while they watched her all night. Haymitch stood in the lines waiting for the medicine that would eradicate the virus and allow Katniss and Peeta to stop hovering on the edge of madness. Hope’s fever broke and she recovered, nonplussed, and toddled about the house as she always had, trying to find as much trouble as possible while Haymitch laughed at her and her parents, who fell in a relieved heap on the sofa.
But this year, the fifth Yuletide, Peeta wanted to celebrate with his own family, as others had done the four previous years. There was no illness or new baby, and Katniss and he were happier than they’d ever been. So Peeta had sent his wife and daughter hunting to execute his plans. First, he pulled on his boots, wrapped his scarf around his neck and turned to go out the back door to find the tree he’d buried there while he pulled on his gloves. Only two days before, when Katniss and Hope were napping, Peeta had dragged Haymitch to the forest with an ax, looking for an Evergreen that would fit in their living room. They’d found a small one and Peeta chopped while Haymitch held it steady. For most of December, Peeta was asking Haymitch to tell him stories from before, especially how to celebrate the Yule. Haymitch mentioned the tree, among other things, and an idea was born.
Peeta dug around in the snow until he could pull the tree by gripping the trunk. Peeta threw it over his shoulder, shaking the snow off it as he did. Inside, after discarding his gloves and kicking off his wet boots, he set it in the pot he’d prepared, filled with stones, to keep the tree steady. Peeta went to the kitchen to fill a pitcher of water, and poured it in the pot, filling the space between the stones – fluffing the branches along the way. All that was left were the decorations for the tree he’d prepared. Peeta knew, from Haymitch, that trees usually had sparkling lights – they’d all seen so many of those in the old Capitol – Peeta didn’t want them on their tree. He knew Katniss wouldn’t either, and Hope had never left the District. Instead, Peeta had made cookies – ones that he’d left a perfect hole in the top of each. They were iced and decorated with different designs of snowflakes, and Peeta had carefully strung a red ribbon through each.
Soon, the tree had branches full of cookies hanging from it. Peeta stepped back to admire his efforts, smiling to himself as he imagined his daughter wanting to eat those decorations. His smile turned to a quiet, rumbling laugh when he thought that Katniss would want to too. Peeta turned to the fireplace across the room to start a warming fire, stacking wood just so and starting the blaze. He lit the two candles on the mantle as well. Overall, the room had a soft glow. Next, Peeta pulled open the drawers of the end tables next to the sofa. There, the presents he’d been wrapping every evening after Hope and Katniss were sleeping. In his looping script, their names were written on the paper Peeta had painted silver and gold a week ago. Peeta placed them carefully under the tree. Haymitch had told him of his childhood where little presents would be exchanged, and even Katniss had related stories of her father bringing home treats, like an orange or a peppermint. Peeta stepped into the kitchen and waited for his family to return.
He didn’t have to wait long. The door opened and Hope came tripping through, her little braids askew with her cheeks and nose hues of pink and red. Hope ran to straight to her father.
“Day-dee-e-e” she cried, pulling on his pant leg, “Day-dee I gots a tunkee!”
Peeta swung his two-year-old daughter into his arms, laughing, and picked a turkey feather from her tattered braids. “You got a turkey, Cupcake? Did you get a turkey all by yourself?” he teased.
Hope’s face held the same expression Katniss’s did when Peeta teased his wife. He tried hard not to laugh at the sight, though his lips twitched some, while his daughter explained, with a serious face. “No Day-dee. It was Momma…”
“It was Momma that did what, Sugar Plum?” Katniss said coming inside, her nose and cheeks ruddy from the cold and her grey eyes bright. Peeta was certain she’d never looked as beautiful. He sighed, trying to keep his mind from thinking about his wife in those terms. As least not now, as he was holding their squirming daughter.
Hope bounced in her father’s arms, “You gots the tunkee! An’ you lets me plun it!”
As Katniss put her bow and quiver in their place by the door, Peeta met her to kiss her cool cheek, “Translation?” he laughed lightly, feeling complete now that his girls were home.
Katniss brought the plucked turkey to the sink to rinse off the blood. “She helped me pluck feathers before we came in,” Katniss replied. “I just finished butchering it and giving the gizzards to The Cat.”
The Cat was Buttercup’s replacement, who passed before Hope was born. A stray followed Katniss home from a hunt once, and stayed for the scraps and entrails that Katniss fed it. The tomcat never got a name, however, other than “The Cat.”
Once the turkey was clean, Peeta nodded to the pan he’d set out. “Put it in there, I’ll dress it once you take this ragamuffin from my arms.”
“C’mon Hope,” her mother said, holding out her arms for their daughter, “Let’s get cleaned up.”
Hope clung to Peeta’s neck, so her father rained little kisses over her face until she giggled. Only then did she reach for her mother’s arms. Once Peeta heard the water running, he dressed the bird with the apple and bread stuffing he’d made, spiced it and circled the vegetables around. He washed his hands and put the pan in the oven. He had set the temperature and timer, just as his girls were coming back into the kitchen, scrubbed clean and shining. Hope’s and Katniss’s hair were re-braided. Katniss put her little girl down and Hope was off and running about the house.
She walked up to her husband and threw her arms around his neck, “Where are my kisses?” Katniss teased.
Peeta so enthusiastically gave them to her, that he forgot that their toddler had free reign and would go searching for her toys which were in…
A high pitched scream that only Hope could make had Katniss slipping from Peeta’s arms and running to the living room. Peeta followed her, though with less panic.
Standing still in the living room, pointing her little finger at the tree, Hope was still screaming for “Momma!” Once she saw her mother, her next question was, “Why? Why is a tu-wee here?”
Katniss picked her daughter up and looked at her husband with her eyebrows raised, “That’s a good question. Peeta?”
Peeta spread his arms wide, “Happy Yuletide!”
She put a calmer Hope down, who immediately tried to reach a cookie snowflake. “You did all this?” Katniss noticed the cookies, packages under the tree and the fire crackling.
“I did.” Peeta pulled Katniss to the tree and tugs their daughter to join them on the floor. “I was talking about Yuletide traditions with Haymitch and decided to make some of our own. As a family.”
“Peeta, it’s…” Katniss took a deep breath to smell the pine, “Perfect.” She shifted Hope between them to kiss his cheek.
Peeta stretched over both of them to hand his daughter the first gift, “This is for my little Cupcake.”
Hope perked up in their arms, “Pu-esent?” she accepted the brightly wrapped package and her fingers tear into the wrapping. A soft stuffed rabbit toy emerged from the paper and into her hands. “Oh Momma!” she showed her mother, “a bunny!”
“It’s beautiful, Sugar Plum,” Katniss said to her daughter while giving her husband a pointed look, “Great,” she hisses, “she’ll never eat r-a-b-b-i-t stew again!”
Peeta laughed, even more loudly after Katniss elbows his ribs. He plucked a cookie off the tree, took off the ribbon and gave it to Hope. She squealed, took a bite, offered some to her bunny, and started rolling on the floor under the tree, preoccupied with her cookie and bunny.
Both her parents smile at their daughter’s happiness, and Peeta reaches for a small box, “Oh look, this has your name on it, Katniss.”
She looks suspiciously at him, but opened the paper, with a little more care than her daughter did. A small box is underneath the paper, and she opened that as well. Katniss gasped. “Peeta!”
He took the ring out of the box and presented it to his wife, “We were engaged for so long, both not real and real, yet I never gave you an engagement ring.” Peeta said softly, though their daughter was yawning and cuddling her bunny under the tree.
“But…but…my pearl! How did you...?” Katniss stuttered, then her eyebrows lowered in realization, “You took my pearl out of the house! You could have lost it! I could have lost…”
Peeta kissed his wife between her eyebrows to soften her panicked expression, “It’s safe. I’m safe. You’ll never lose either again.” He slipped the ring on her finger, where it nestled perfectly against her wedding ring.
Katniss’s eyes filled with tears and she found her way into Peeta’s lap. “Thank you,” she whispered. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she kissed him deeply before she said, “I don’t have anything for you…”
“Katniss, you give me all I need every day…” Peeta said before she interrupted him.
“I have something,” Katniss said, and kissed her husband’s cheek. “There’s a song my father used to sing around this time when I was very little. I don’t know if I remember it all.”
Peeta held his wife, mesmerized as she sang a song about trees, strength, and hope. “That was beautiful,” he said, “Thank you.” He felt again as a child, falling in love with her all over.
They both smiled as they looked to their daughter, who was sound asleep after hearing her mother’s song. “It’s time for her nap,” Katniss said, raising from his lap, “Let’s put her in her bed, I have another gift for you.”
Peeta waggled his eyebrows as he rose to gingerly pick up their daughter. Katniss laughed softly and led the way to put Hope in her room.
Once she was settled, her arms still full of her bunny, with her mouth slightly open and snoring lightly, Katniss pulled Peeta to their room.
His hands found her braid, and pulled it loose, fingering her waves as they fell down her shoulders. “You had a gift for me?” Peeta said as he began to kiss her neck.
“Mmm,” she replied, already feeling warmth flow through her body at his touch. Katniss held Peeta’s face between her palms to help not distract her, as she said, “I’ve been thinking for a while now that I want to try again.”
Peeta, still distracted, pulled her hips closer to his, “try again?”
“Yes.” Katniss said, and kissed his lips and sighed, “Yes. I want Hope to have a brother or a…sister, and I know you do too.”
He pulled back from her, his expression was one of wonder. “You want to try now?”
Katniss’s lips curled up, and she placed her hand on Peeta’s belt, “Yes. Right now.”
Peeta could deny her nothing.
Fin.