Christmas plans were cut short for a Weslaco family of nine after their home was destroyed by o a fire on Christmas Eve.

A two story-home on Missouri Avenue caught fire, causing the nearby apartments to also catch fire.

The family in the two-story home are now staying with relatives in Mercedes.

“We were all going to get together and have the kids open up their gifts and stuff,” family member Naomi Ramirez said. “Look how they woke up that morning, the girls were crying hysterically, not even knowing what to do.”

The Weslaco Police Department stepped in.

The children at the two-story home were without gifts, and officers replaced what was gone with donations from the community.

“Our patrol officer and the supervisor decided, ‘you know what, let’s go back to the police department, we have donations that the community has been handing out for our toy drive, we still have some of those, let's bring those back out,’” Weslaco police Miguel Martinez said.

The family is now thinking of rebuilding.