Misty

The longer I am a father, the more easily certain stories tear me up.

MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark. — All Jeanna Grcich wanted for Christmas was for her daddy to come home. On Wednesday, the 8-year-old got her wish when Sgt. Chris Grcich appeared in her classroom at Nelson-Wilks-Herron Elementary School after serving nine months in Iraq.

After standing in shock for a second, Jeanna dropped the Christmas card she and her sister, Caitlyn, 9, had been making for him and they both ran into his arms.

“Happy birthday, sweetheart,” Chris Grcich told Jeanna, whose birthday was on Tuesday and who wished for him to come home when she blew out the candles.

Merry Christmas, kids.