Your Take Today: Paste BN's top reader photo

Denise Nehila's favorite holiday is Christmas. This year, she has two trees, holiday pictures on her kitchen walls, and candles and wreaths in her foyer.

But Nehila isn't the only one in her household who loves the holidays.

Meet Champ, the family's 5-year-old golden retriever.

"He is part of the Christmas morning hubbub and will sit next to anyone who is opening a gift," said Nehila adding that Champ even has his own stocking.

"He is as much a part of the family as anyone else," she said.

Nehila had always dreamed of having a therapy dog.

"I knew he (Champ) would be wonderful at it," she said. "Unfortunately, the timid part of Champ didn't allow for it." Nehila said that Champ was afraid of helium balloons, wheelchairs, and loud noises, and as a result, failed the therapy dog program.

"Champ is a very intuitive dog with a big heart," Nehila said. "But he is our family's therapy dog now."

Nehila and her family live in Flemington, N.J. She took this photo in her living room (post-decorating) with a Canon 6D camera, and edited it in Lightroom.

"What I love about this photo is the feeling of home that it portrays and the joy of the holiday to come," she said. "I especially love that Champ came into the picture. I did not pose him there, he decided to lay there as I sat on the floor taking pictures of the room."

"He is a very sweet dog and he follows me everywhere," she said. "I cannot go anywhere in the house without my shadow."

For more of Nehila's photography, check out her website, and her Instagram and Twitter accounts.

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