In 2009, one little girl got a big, emotional Christmas surprise that she could have never expected. It wasn’t a toy or some elaborate status item, but something much more special.

The story all began over 10 years ago when a family looking to adopt was matched to a young girl who lived in another state.

The backstory

They made a trip to visit her in far-away foster home during the transition phase so she could get to know them. There, they also met her foster sister.

In the caption to the sweet YouTube video that has been viewed by nearly 3 million people over the last decade, her father explained that the adoption was a success but their new daughter continued to miss her foster sister and express concern about her. After all, it must be tough to form a family and then get separated later. It’s something many of us fail to appreciate if we haven’t been involved in foster care.

Because they wanted to alleviate some of their daughter’s concern, the adoptive mom and dad decided to give their girl a Christmas surprise she’d never forget (and one that she could have never expected). Shortly before Christmas, they tracked down the former foster sister using Facebook and offered to fly her out to their home for a reunion.

Christmas Eve

As the video begins, we see mom gathering all the children in a room on Christmas Eve and there’s a buzz in the air.

The adopted daughter in question can sense something is up, but mom covers by saying “Well because it’s Christmas, it’s Christmas Eve!” as if this is all one needs to explain the excitement.

That’s when they’re all directed into the living room and see a huge present.

They’re thrilled.

But this present belongs to the newest adopted daughter. And boy is she stoked to get something so big and elaborate!

The surprise

As they start pulling at the wrapping paper they simply can’t figure out what might be so big and heavy.

But that’s when they realize the best way to “open” the gift is to lift the box.

After some help, the box reveals a huge surprise – that sorely-missed foster sister. And the adopted girl who had been missing her so much was simply frozen in surprise before being swept up in a big hug.

It’s clearly an emotional moment for everyone.

If you’ve never seen two teen girls be genuinely excited about something, you may want to turn down the volume to spare yourself a squealy surprise!

While this moment left more than one viewer in tears, it gets even better.

What happened after

What we don’t see in the video is the follow-up story, which dad also provided since the story went viral thanks to Reddit all those years ago.

He said that when he and his wife contacted the foster sister, she was interested in being emancipated from foster care and really wanted a family to call her own. She was already nearing 18 and would soon age out of the system, so she was unlikely to be adopted at that point.

So the parents decided to make the “foster” sisters into legal sisters by adopting her not long after this surprise.

Dad reported that they all stood next to her in the courtroom as she was emancipated from foster care and declared a legal adult. Minutes later, they filed a petition to adopt her as an adult.

Now these girls are officially sisters!

Be sure to scroll down below to see their sweet Christmas reunion.

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Source: osaartist via YouTube