It was a clear, crisp autumn day, and I was researching--not for school, but for a graphics tablet that I wanted to do some digital art on and expand the mediums I used.
        

I was scrolling through the thousands of tablets on Amazon. There was the large expensive tablets: ones I could never get, the cheap small ones that my hand could never fit on, and the knockoff brands where no one really knows if they work or not until it comes in the mail and money ends up being wasted down the drain. I also had YouTube pulled up, looking at the many reviews of different kinds of tablets, seeing which one would be the best bet for my environment.     
        

On the coffee table lay my notebook with different names scribbled onto the paper, comparing the different brands, prices, and different features they all offered. I agreed with myself that I would have four to choose from, to narrow down my choices. I was on my fourth one, hoping that I could find something good.
        

I came across this one review on the XP-Pen Star 03, and it looked pretty decent. The person showed what it looked like in the box. It had this really well-drawn girl on it, along with the brand and tablet name, plus a picture of the tablet. The back listed all the features on it, and some other pictures for design. It had eight shortcut keys, a battery-free pen, a pen holder, eight other nibs in case the one inside the pen wears down, and binded with the holder to make it compact. It also came with a CD disk to install the software, and books to help the owner install and set up the tablet to their liking. Hey, this seems pretty good, I thought.
        

Deciding to reach over to grab my pen and notebook, I wrote down XP-Pen Star 03, and I skipped a space for the price then wrote down the number of shortcut keys and whether if it were wireless or not. Pulling up Amazon, I searched for the tablet. There it was, the first result to come up. I looked at the price: fifty-two dollars wasn’t that bad, considering most tablets were well over one hundred dollars. I filled in the empty space with the amount and rushed to the garage to inform my parents of my finished research. I opened the door, pencil and paper in hand.

         “Okay so I looked up different tablets, and I found four that are really good and really cheap,” I said, gesturing the notebook to them.
        

Walking over to my parents, holding up the notebook, I compared the different tablets to them, explaining the differences.

         “These are around the same price, and they all have decent reviews on them,” I explained.
         “Oh, nice,” my dad replied, one of his usual answers to most conversations.
         “I want to narrow them down to about two and figure out which one would be the best.” I then headed out the door back inside to do a little more research before stopping for the day.
        

About a month passed and it was only a few weeks away from Christmas. I had chosen the XP-Pen Star 03 tablet since it seemed really good, and the reviews on it were considerable. I was sitting on the couch, scrolling through my social media. It was late about 8:00 or 9:00 pm, and my mom called me from her room. I walked through the dim hallway, entering her room. She was lying on her back, looking at her phone. I walked over to the side of her bed, wondering what she wanted.

         “What?” I questioned.
         “Did you say that you wanted this tablet?” she asked, showing me the tablet that I decided to settle for.
“Yea, that’s the one,” I said, slightly surprised that she remembered the name.
         “It also comes in white and black, but I think black would be better, since it might scratch up,” I explained.
         “Okay, I was just wondering,” she mumbled, so I let myself out, walking back to the couch.
        

About another two weeks past, and I was anxious for Christmas to be here already. There was a package that came in the mail, but I thought nothing of it since my dad gets a handful of packages throughout the week. He ended up getting dog treats instead of whatever was in the package, so he had to chase after the mail person. I figured it was a pretty important package.
        

Christmas finally came, and it was about seven in the morning when I woke up, most likely because I was really excited. I quietly woke up my sister, and we both lightly stepped out into the living room, ecstatic to find our stocking filled with candy and other objects as well. We both dumped out our bright red stockings with our names written in glitter glue.
        

After about twenty minutes, my sister whispered to me that she was tired, and she practically dragged herself back to bed. I turned on my phone and checked my social media while I looked at the pile of sweet treats I received, deciding what to eat first. There was a can of Pirouline, which are basically chocolate-filled biscuits. It took me almost an hour just to get them open, probably because I hadn’t gained my full strength that early in the morning.
        

When I finally managed to get them open, my mom walked into the room acting surprised while looking at our treats that came from our stockings. I proceeded to show her what my sister and I recieved, full with excitement. I was acting like a little kid, but it’s nice to act like one here and there for foolish reasons. My sister eventually woke up and so did my dad about half an hour later.
        

It was about 11:00, and my sister and I were bubbling with anticipation to open our presents. It was as though we were buckets overflowing with water. We decided to open one gift that was to both of us, but as soon as we finished looking at it we went for our own.  My parents urged me to open this one present that had a nice narrow boxing. I opened it, and as soon I saw the box, my heart jumped with joy. There was the girl on the box of the XP-Pen Star 03. I immediately shredded the rest of the wrapping paper off to reveal the box in my hands. I wasn’t expecting my parents to get the tablet; I was going to order it with my own money.

         “You like it?” my dad asked, with a hint of a smile on his face.
         “Yea, I do,” I replied, grinning really wide.
“Remember when Dad received that one package, and it was wrong?” my mom asked me.
“Yea, I do. What about it?” I didn’t know why she asked about it, but I had a small idea of what it was.
“Your tablet was in there, which is why he wanted to track the mail person down,” she told me.
“Really?” I laughed.

I stopped looking at my tablet and proceeded to open up all of my other presents quickly, but as soon I had the chance, I opened the tablet box, eager to see what was inside, though I already knew from the reviews of the tablet.
        

On top was the tablet, covered in a foam sheet to protect it, and there were thank you cards setting on the tablet with the CD disk. I pulled the tablet out and set it next to me.  There was the extra pair of nibs and the penholder along with the pen beside them. The pen was packed into a bag to protect it, too. I pulled everything out of its packaging besides the tablet.
       

Slowly picking up the tablet, I made sure not to let the tablet fall out of the foam. I pulled the soft textured foam away from the tablet, revealing the tablet, covered with plastic to reduce the scratches. When I carefully pulled the three pieces of plastic off the surface, it revealed the smooth black design. It had the brand name printed on the far side of the tablet with the eight express keys next to it. The screen was nice and sleek, like a recently cleaned TV screen. I messed around with it for a little bit, but I setted it on the coffee table to use for later. A few hours passed, and I finally plugged it in to my parents’ laptop and installed a drawing program to use with it.
         

I still use it, and it’s in perfect condition, besides some scratches here and there. It’s one of the best presents I ever received, and I am so happy to have it to express my creativity.