No more cut and paste. No more Photoshop. For their next photograph, the Sistrunk family won’t need any visual trickery or wittiness, because they’re finally back together and one, in the states.

At long last, the father of the family (creatively pictured above with his better half and his kids), United States Air Force Staff Sergeant Brandon Sistrunk, is back home from his deployment in Iraq, and will be for a total of 195 days.

“I miss him a lot,” said his young daughter, Macie.

“I couldn’t handle how long he’s been gone, I really miss him,” said his son, Landon, to 11 News Reporter in Colorado Springs.

“I thought you weren’t coming home,” the seven-year-old boy said, in the midst of hugging his dad.

The family had made the internet misty-eyed after they posted the image of the Christmas card, which was the idea of Sistrunk’s wife, Ashley. She says she was inspired by photographs like it she’d seen over the years.

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“Other families can feel more courage while they’re starting a deployment or in deployments,” 9-year-old Riley Sistrunk said about her mom’s idea for the card.

“[The response] just was overwhelming so but, it’s good I think,” Staff Sgt. Sistrunk said. “It’s good for people to see other people stories and know that they’re not alone in what we do.”

Between continuous hugs among the kids, Macie asked, “And can we have tickle fights? Like we do like we did at our house?”

Before he heads back overseas to continue his service, Sistrunk plans on relaxing and enjoying the company of his loving family.