Police surprise family with Christmas gifts, decorations

An Oklahoma family got an unexpected Christmas surprise just days before the holiday, courtesy of Tulsa police.

The Tulsa Police Department shared a Facebook post from Officer Ralph Travis who, along with other officers and their families, helped to make a family's Christmas after he met them Sunday on a call.

Travis said he was called to the family's home for a domestic incident and that he later realized he hadn't seen a Christmas tree in the house. Three children younger than 4 live in the home, he said.

“(It’s) just hard to imagine that 3 days before Christmas a home would not have a tree in it,” Travis wrote. “I’m not naive by any means but the situation was just sad.”

He said he posted about the situation in a private Facebook group for Tulsa police and their families and that he quickly started to get calls and text messages about donating to the family.

An unidentified officer's family donated a tree, decorations, homemade cookies and gifts for the children, Travis said. He packed them into his car and headed back to the family's home to deliver the goods.

"My trainee and I delivered the gifts and set up the tree," he said. "The kids were excited. The grandmother cried and my rookie cried... just kidding."

Travis said he and his trainee made at least six trips back to the car to unload their Christmas gifts.

“They kept thinking we were leaving and we kept coming back with more,” he wrote. “Thank you for the overwhelming response I got from a simple post.”

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