Deployed soldier reunites with family at South Florida school just in time for Christmas

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – A Pembroke Pines family had their Christmas wish come true Thursday.

All they wanted was for their deployed father to come home for the holidays.

It's been 2,920 hours and counting since his sons saw their dad, who surprised them at school Thursday.

You could feel the emotion through Somerset Academy's lunch room as U.S. Army Sgt. Giovanny Prieto Sr. walked in in full uniform. Tears and an uproar of love erupted from all family members as they reunited -- mom, dad and their three sons.  

"I was very surprised that he could come and he could do all that stuff for me," fourth-grader Giovanny Jr. Prieto said. 

"Every single minute that I spent on that plane coming down here for 18 hours, it's just worth it to see their faces and be able to spend Christmas with them for the next three weeks," Prieto Sr. said. 

Prieto Sr. was deployed to South Korea for the last four months but was able to make it home just in time for Christmas. 

"When I saw their faces, it was just like, 'Oh my God,'" Prieto's wife said.