It is always a heartwarming moment when service men and women return home safely from deployments. The Internet is flooded with tear jerking reunions of parents surprising children in unique ways.
However, this one video shows a father’s reunion with his family right in time to celebrate the holidays. After serving in the Navy for more than twenty years, it was time for Rob Stella to return home from his final deployment overseas. His family had planned for him to return on December 4. At the last moment, the return trip was postponed or so they thought. Stella called his wife to tell her he would indeed be home on the fourth and he had an epic way to surprise the children.
Stella’s wife agreed to go along with the surprise and told her children that they would have to take their annual family photo with Santa without their father this year. As the children posed for their photo with the mall’s Santa, Stella made his suprise homecoming arrival by posing behind his children. His son noticed the other people in line had began laughing.
That’s when he discovered his father was finally home. “The gig was up by then,” said Stella. “My youngest son came over to give me a hug and my daughter broke down crying. Her reaction just makes my heart melt.
You feel so bad when you have to leave and you feel like you’re breaking their hearts. But after that time away and getting to surprise them like this, it almost makes it worth its while.”
