Having a loved one deployed in the military can be very difficult – especially with all of the worry and heartache that goes along with it.
The separation from children comes hardest for parents, of course, so it’s a very special moment when they reunite with their kids.
Most of us get very emotional watching soldiers reunite with loved ones and it’s always a moment that makes us realize the true importance of family and how much they mean to us.
A holiday wish come true
One mom got a very special surprise for Christmas from her family.
The family was on weekend a trip to Big Bear Lake in CA in the week before Christmas but unbeknownst to mom, they were planning a surprise for her!
It took a while to organize everything properly without her suspecting anything.
So what’s the catch, you’re probably asking yourself?
Hang on, when you hear how creative and well-thought the surprise was, you’ll be delighted!
It all started with a cutout of her son
They gave her a cutout that was made of her son, but it was only the beginning of a surprise they had in store for her.
With their surprise planned, it was finally time for the family to gather at Danny’s Restaurant, Big Bear, CA.
Everyone – including the restaurant employees – was in on the surprise, except for mom who thought that her sailor son wasn’t going to be home for Christmas.
Posing with the cutout
Holding a cut out of her son, Mom smiled for the camera, thinking perhaps, of how happy she’d be if he was home for Christmas.
Little did she know that her son was standing right behind her in his sailor’s suit!
Mom thought her daughter was using the app to insert an incredibly realistic image of her son into the photo.
“Grandma look! Uncle Robin is there!” her granddaughter Quinn said as everyone was urging Mom to look at the picture on the phone!
“This is a really cool photoshop app,” Mom said. “How did you do it?”
She still wasn’t understanding
We can hardly blame her for not suspecting anything, but that wasn’t the end!
Soon they took another photo but Mom still didn’t notice that there was an intruder lurking behind them and thought it was an incredibly realistic photoshop app!
‘The hard part was trying to keep her attention forward’
For the mom, it couldn’t have been anything more than a really good photoshop app so the family had to keep her attention forward.
Just as they were about to take one more photo, she finally turned around and let out a scream of joy when she saw it was her son standing there all along!
Best surprise ever
As they embraced, the whole restaurant applauded and mom slowly burst into tears.
She just couldn’t believe her sailor son was really there and would be spending Christmas with his family!
“You had no idea, you didn’t even think about looking back!” her daughter said.
Time for a proper photo
When the surprise was complete the family could take a proper picture and celebrate their happy reunion.
Mom finally managed to compose herself, wiping the tears of joy from her face, still under the effect of a surprise her loved ones had planned for her so carefully.
It was the best Christmas present they could give her!
The surprise is so sweet it has over 22M views. You can watch it for yourself in the video below!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
Source: YouTube – Ramon Lerma Travels
