The next day at school flew by. During lunch, Alyssa discussed with Elle and Rachel ideas for their holiday-wish essays. Alyssa couldn’t believe she was the only one who had completed hers already. But then again, she’d been really inspired!

“So what’s yours about?” Elle asked for the fifth time as she peeled an orange. “Are you going to keep us in suspense or what?”

Alyssa laughed. “I will tell you, I promise! I’m still fine-tuning it. And it’s kind of hard to explain.”

Elle wrinkled her nose. “What did you wish for that’s so complicated? World peace?”

“Nothing that complicated. Let’s just say it’s nothing super exciting, but it came from my heart,” Alyssa said finally.

“Hmmm…” Elle said, comically stroking her chin like a cartoon villain. “I will find out. I have my ways.…”

“Ignore her,” Rachel whispered to Alyssa, and they both giggled. “Hey, has Dasher been to the vet yet?”

Alyssa shook her head. “She’s actually going this afternoon. I’ll find out after school how it went.” She exhaled nervously.

“It’s going to be fine,” Elle said encouragingly. “That cat chose you. I’m positive you will get to keep her.”

“I sure hope so.” Alyssa bit her lip. She knew there was no use in dwelling on what might happen, but even still she couldn’t help but worry. She’d become so attached to Dasher, she couldn’t imagine having to give her up.

“How’s the knitting coming along?” Rachel asked.

Alyssa appreciated the change of subject, even if the thought of knitting was stressful for her, too, though in a different way. “Very slowly. I finished the first scarf—the red ombré one—last night. Dasher fell asleep on it while I was working on it!” She took a sip of her chocolate milk. “I started on the second one. It will have a chevron pattern, so it’s a little more complicated but I think it will be really pretty when it’s done. I FaceTimed with Ryder last night, and he helped me figure out the pattern.”

“Is Becca still helping you?”

Alyssa swallowed, unsure of how to respond. She didn’t want to talk too much about Becca, but since Elle had asked she figured it was okay to answer. “Yeah, she is. She’s been doing a lot. But she had to take a break to work on her essay.”

Alyssa wasn’t sure if she imagined it or not, but she felt like an awkward silence fell over the table. Finally, Elle broke the silence. “So, yeah, speaking of our holiday essays, let’s go back to that. What on earth am I wishing for?”

Alyssa practically ran home from the bus stop after school. She couldn’t wait to hear how Dasher had made out at the vet.

“Mom, I’m home!” she called as she rushed into the kitchen. She saw Dasher’s food bowl on the mat in the corner of the room and figured that was a good sign. “Mom? How did it go?”

“I’m in the den,” Mrs. Sing replied.

Alyssa scooped up Dasher, who had ambled into the kitchen at the sound of Alyssa’s voice, and gave her a kiss on her head. “What did the vet say?” she asked as she walked into the den. She placed Dasher on the ground. “I wonder if we’ve been overfeeding her.…” she murmured. “Did the vet think she was too fat?”

“About that…” Mrs. Sing patted the couch cushion next to her. “Sit, Alyssa. I have some news.”

Alyssa felt a wave of panic but then realized her mom didn’t look upset. She was smiling… sort of. “What? Is Dasher okay?” she wailed. “Do we have to give her back to someone? Tell me!”

“One question at a time,” Mrs. Sing said. “First and foremost—she is fine. She’s a healthy young cat. The vet thinks she’s about three years old.” Alyssa breathed a sigh of relief. “However, the vet had a pretty big surprise for us.…” Her mom paused dramatically. “Dasher is pregnant! The vet thinks she’s due to have her kittens in a week or two, though it can be hard to pinpoint an exact date.”

“Pregnant?” Alyssa cried. “I can’t believe it!”

“There’s more,” her mom continued. “She did have a microchip. They pulled up the information from the database for the owners she was registered to and tried contacting them, but the phone number was no longer in service.”

“So that means she’s ours!” Alyssa cheered.

“We’ll see, sweetie,” her mom said, placing her hand on Alyssa’s arm. “They also have an email address and were going to reach out via email to see if the owners can be found. They have to try, Alyssa,” she added when Alyssa began to protest. “I don’t want to give you false hope, but the doctor did say that a lot of the time in these situations, the emails go unanswered. And there were no reports at the Palm Meadows animal shelter that she was missing, so it may be that her owners were ready to give her up.”

“Mom, this is great news,” Alyssa cried. She felt like her head was spinning. “We have so much to figure out about the kittens! Did you find out what we need to do? We can still keep her, right?” Alyssa had so many questions. “I know kittens are a big responsibility, but I already know a little bit about the local animal shelter and I think they can help us out if we can’t find homes for all her kittens, but I’m sure we can. I bet my friends would take some, and maybe Mrs. Amir would want one.…”

Mrs. Sing laughed. “Yes, I got some pamphlets with all the information. And the vet was sure we have at least another week or two so we can bring her back right before Christmas for another checkup to see how she’s coming along. That gives us some time to prepare for the kittens.”

Alyssa felt a huge rush of love for her mom. She’s going to let me keep her!

“Mom, I know this is going to be a lot of work, and more than you signed up for when you let me get a cat. I promise you, I will take such good care of Dasher and her kittens and I will find a great home for every single one of them!”

“I know you will, sweetie,” her mom said. She smiled ruefully. “It’s definitely not what I expected when we took her in, but if she’s going to be our cat, we have to make sure to do right by her. She’s our family now.” She kissed Alyssa’s head as she stood up. “It looks like this Christmas is going to be one to remember for sure!”

Later that evening, Alyssa, Cody, and Mrs. Sing sat around the kitchen table constructing a gingerbread house. This was one of Alyssa’s favorite Christmas traditions, and with everything going on this year, she had almost forgotten all about it! Luckily, her mom hadn’t forgotten and brought home a gingerbread house kit for them to use. Cody was an expert at applying the “glue,” which was really icing, to hold the pieces together.

“I’m thinking a border of cinnamon candies along the edges of the roof,” she murmured as she carefully applied the last bit of icing. “What do you think, Cody?”

“That works,” he agreed. “I’m going to see if I can make some Christmas lights using the licorice strings and fruit DOTS.”

“Ooh, good idea!”

As they worked, Mrs. Sing asked Alyssa if she had finished her holiday-wish essay. Alyssa said that she had, and Mrs. Sing asked her if she could tell them her wish.

“I wrote about wanting our first Christmas in Florida to be really special,” Alyssa explained. “I talked about how, just a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t feel comfortable here yet because I didn’t really have any friends and I wasn’t used to the weather being so warm for Christmas and how strange it all seemed. How homesick I was.” She paused to count out another row of cinnamon candies. “But so much happened in such a short time—it really started to feel like Christmas, and I made friends, and found Dasher.…”

Alyssa looked up at her mother and brother. “I said in my essay that my wish had already come true and how grateful I am for everything. This is our home, and I’m glad we’re here.” She felt her cheeks burn a little as she talked about it, wondering if it sounded dumb. “It’s not the most exciting essay in the world, but it came from my heart and that’s what Mrs. Ramirez wanted, so I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.”

“Alyssa, honey, that sounds wonderful,” her mom said, a smile lighting up her face. “I am glad you’re so happy. You deserve it!”

“Yeah.” Cody nodded. “That actually sounds like a really good essay.”

“Aww, Cody, look at you being all sweet!” Alyssa teased, tossing a cinnamon candy at her brother.

Cody caught the candy in his mouth. “Not really,” he replied. “You didn’t let me finish. I was just about to say that it’s a Christmas miracle you made friends so quickly!”

“Ha-ha,” Alyssa said, pretending to be upset. But she knew her brother was only joking. She also knew how lucky she was to have him for a brother.