Courtesy Photo The writer’s dog is pictured in this 2018 picture at Sturgeon Point Light House.

The best Christmas present I’ve ever received? This one took a lot of thinking, but I think I’ve narrowed it down to two Christmas gifts. I know choosing two is kind of cheating, but I can’t decide.

One I got a couple years ago, about 2018 or 2019, and that was a sewing machine.

Now there’s a long history and debate about the sewing machine in particular. The first sewing machine I ever used belonged to my sister. Of course, when she moved out she wanted to take it with her. I was stubborn, still am, and I didn’t want her to take it because what was I going to use?

For the longest time it stayed at our house, hidden in a back corner of my room with me hoping that she’d never guess where it was. I used it to create circle skirts and basic sewing projects in the beginning.

However, when I went to my summer job, my sister came in, found it, and took it to her new place. I found out one day because when I went to use it, it wasn’t there. To say I was upset was an understatement. I think I nearly cried. Soon I resigned myself to the fact that I’d never be able to use another sewing machine.

Then that Christmas, my parents surprised me by getting me a sewing machine of my very own. I used it to make my first dress. I apologized to my sister for making the stink I did about her taking the sewing machine away from me. Originally the dress was going to be for me, but became my mother’s after I realized it wasn’t going to fit me.

The second one was a gift for my whole family. We got a dog around 2008 and we had that dog up until a couple years ago. Her name was Maggie and I loved her so much.

We got her when she was just a puppy and she was the cutest thing ever. My sisters and I had been begging my parents to get us a dog for a while and one Christmas they finally gave us a present and allowed us to get a dog.

Of course, my mom insisted on getting a Vizsla since it was the breed she grew up with and she always proclaimed that it was the only breed of dog there was. This was always said in a joking tone.

When Maggie first came home, she was scared and didn’t know much like all dogs. But she soon learned to love the house and us as well. There were a couple years where she just straight up did not like me, but in her later years she would come up to me looking to be petted.

She loved the lake, but she did not like the outside kennel. She was always on high alert in the kennel and would whine when one of us left the cottage for too long or went to the lake without her.

She was a really good dog and I miss having her around. She truly was one of the best Christmas presents I ever received.