Military dad surprises family by appearing in background of their Christmas photo

Talk about a truly amazing homecoming! 23 year Navy veteran and father of three, Rob Stella, recently arrived home from his final deployment overseas, and of course, wanted to surprise his family.

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Stella explained to Good Morning America that his wife knew that he would be coming home, but his kids did not. In order to pull off the perfect surprise, these clever parents were able to coordinate with the shopping mall's manager to allow Stella to hide behind Santa's perch, waiting for the perfect moment

%shareLinks-quote="You feel so bad when you have to leave and you feel like you're breaking their heart. But after that time away and getting to surprise them like this, it almost makes it worth its while. The hardest thing I've done in years is telling them I'm going away." type="quote" author="Rob Stella" authordesc="" isquoteoftheday="false"%

As the awesome dad explains, he was trying to stay in his children's blind spots, but his younger son heard the crowd laughing and got a bit confused. When he looked behind Santa, he caught a glimpse of his father.

From there, things take a turn for the emotional. Try not to cry while watching this video...it's just not possible:

How heartwarming? Take a look at another amazing homecoming video, and get your tissues ready:

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