Watch The Heartwarming (And Sweary) Moment These Irish Families Are Reunited For Christmas.

No matter how much you like your alone time, spending the holidays away from family can put you under a dreary spell. And while many of us can drive or book a flight home whenever we feel homesick, it isn’t that simple for expats, or those who take up residency in another country. This year, Aer Lingus has gifted five Irish people with the ultimate Christmas present — a complimentary flight home to reunite with unsuspecting families. Although the video is an advertisement, it is no less beautiful. The passengers recorded their experiences with handheld cameras, offering the ad an intimate and genuine quality. In this video, Nigel returns home from Chicago so that his mother wouldn’t have to spend the holidays alone; Niamh flies back for the first time in 14 years; Clare departs New York for Cork; Tomás heads to Galway from Toronto; and Fintan, also based in New York, surprises his mother.