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[center][b]December 24th, Eight Years in the Future[/b][/center]
	Little Courtney Wilson sat on the kneelers as if they were a kiddie chair while she scribbled in her “Disney Princess” coloring book with her crayons. Once she had finished her coloring job on an entire page, she picked up the book with two hands and showed it to her mother.
 
	“Do you like it, mommy?”
 
	[color=khaki]“It’s beautiful,”[/color] Kelly told her toddler while their family of three waited for their church’s Christmas eve service to begin. Once her daughter had received her approval, the young girl turned the page and started to color the now blank canvas.
 
	“Mommy, can I sit next to Aunt Sammy when she gets here?”
 
	[color=khaki]“Sure. She should be here in a few minutes.”[/color]
 
	At the moment, Courtney was seated between Kelly and Zac, so that they might keep an eye on her. The church choir was warming up prior to the beginning of the surface, which provided a little entertainment while people trickled into the church. The church itself had been already decked with garland and a few plain Christmas trees as festive decorations.
 
	[color=peru]“Time sure has flown by.”[/color] Zac told his wife, since it seemed as if it was just yesterday that they got married. Now they had a little one to look after. And before either of them knew it, she would be all grown up in a blink of an eye.
 
	[color=khaki]“I know,”[/color] Kelly agreed with her husband, [color=khaki]“It seems like everyone is settling down. We had Courtney. Aubrey had Kristen and Ryan. Kyle and…”[/color]
 
	[color=peru]“Wait, when did Aubrey have a second kid? I don’t remember her being pregnant.”[/color] Zac interrupted his wife in mid-sentence with his realization.
 
	[color=khaki]“I don’t either, but I know for sure she has two kids. Want me to text her?”[/color]
 
	[color=peru]“It doesn’t matter to me. I’m not dying to know.”[/color]
 
	Nevertheless, despite Zac’s answer, Kelly pulled out her cell phone and sent a quick text to Aubrey. Meanwhile, Courtney had pealed her eyes away from her coloring book for long enough to catch sight of someone entering the church.
 
	“Mommy! Aunt Sammy is here!” Courtney pointed to her mother, who immediately dropped her phone back into her purse before standing up to greet her best friend.
 
	[color=khaki]“Merry Christmas!”[/color] Kelly greeted Sammy before giving her a hug. [color=khaki]“I see you won’t be carrying a bun in the oven for much longer.”[/color]
 
	“I’m expecting any week now.” Sammy told Kelly with a smile while placing a hand on her pregnant stomach.
 
	[color=peru]“Great. Now we can have a reenactment of the nativity. I’m sure that would spice up this service.”[/color]
 
	[color=khaki]“Hey! Be nice. It’s Christmas after all!”[/color]
 
	[color=peru]“We have you here, just in case. So just in case Sammy goes into labor, you’ll be there to deliver baby Jesus.”[/color]
 
	Meanwhile, Courtney pushed past her parents and started to tug on Sammy’s dress.

	“Aunt Sammy, can I sit by you? Mommy said it was okay!”

	“Sure!” Sammy replied. Then, she slowly took a seat on the pew next to her best friend’s child. Courtney, in turn, returned to her coloring book. However, Sammy drew her attention again when she dangled her cat tail in front of Courtney. Whenever the little girl reached out for the tail, Sammy would draw it out of the girl’s reach.

	“My water isn’t going to break tonight. So just relax.” Sammy told both Kelly and Zac. Since she was momentarily distracted by talking with her friends, she did not react quick enough to move her tail away from Courtney, who immediately snatched it.

	“She’s getting good at that,” Sammy said with a laugh while she pulled her tail out of Courtney’s hand.

	[color=khaki]“I’ve always wondered if she’ll ever develop any powers.”[/color] Kelly whispered to Zac and Sammy, although the noise of other people’s conversations drowned out her voice from being heard by anyone except Zac and Sammy.

	[color=peru]“Maybe she’ll take after her father.”[/color]

	“That’s weird. My little Kyle has cat ears in the ultra-sound images.”

	[color=khaki]“Maybe she will be normal. Not that would be a bad thing.”[/color]

	[color=peru]“Or she might not have yet developed them yet. Maybe once she becomes a teenager.”[/color]

	[color=khaki]“Don’t mention her growing up already. Next, we’re going to have to worry about how we’ll pay for college!”[/color]

	Suddenly, Kelly’s phone buzzed. When she pulled it out from her purse, Kelly realized that Aubrey had responded to her recent inquiry. She had sent a nice little family picture for Kelly to show off to Zac and Sammy. Aubrey and Will sat on both sides of their eldest daughter, Kristin, who was about the same age as Courtney. Furthermore, Aubrey held in her arms an infant swaddled in a Christmas-themed blanket.

	[color=khaki]“Look how [b]cute[/b] they look!”[/color] 
	
	“Oh my, look how [b]young[/b] Aubrey looks! She looks like as if she had not aged a day since we first met her in West Virginia!” Sammy interjected after she got a glance of the image.

	[color=peru]“Doesn’t she have a healing factor or something?”[/color]

	[color=khaki]“In a few years, people will start thinking she’s his trophy wife!”[/color]

	“Poor Kristin. One day, people will confuse her mother as her sister!” Sammy said.

	Before the three friends could continue their conversation, the church choir began singing the service’s entrance song. The whole congregation stood up in unison as the pastor made his way up to the front of the church and joined the choir in singing [i]O Come, All Ye Faithful[/i], a staple of the Christmas season. Before the song was over, Kelly made sure to send another text to Aubrey to ask about meeting sometime, since she had not seen the three of them in ages! While the Christmas season was a busy time, that does not mean that they did not have some room in their schedules to have a reunion something during the year.