FOR more than a decade it has been Ireland's most watched TV programme, and every year it delivers some truly golden moments.
But amid the usual "one for everyone in the audience" excesses, The Late Late Toy Show this year melted hearts like never before.
Siblings Adam (8) and Kayla Burke (6) from Midleton in Co Cork got the best Christmas present of all as they were reunited live on air with their father.
Sergeant Graham Burke returned home to surprise them from Mali, where he has been completing his sixth tour of duty peacekeeping.
Adam and Kayla were taking part in a segment testing out toys with host Ryan Tubridy before they were brought over to a large, wrapped box.
Tubridy told them there was a surprise inside for them, before peeling open the wrapping to reveal their father.
Adam screamed, "Daddy!" and the children gripped their dad in a tight embrace.
Mum Marie and younger sister Emily (4) then joined them on set to complete the family group-hug.
Tubridy himself seemed emotional over the reunion, saying: "I can't take this. Let's just go home lads."
In previous years, the Toy Show has seen the likes of singer Ed Sheeran and golfer Rory McIlroy make guest appearances to surprise young super-fans in heart-warming moments.
But this year's show dialled down the celebrity star power – and many viewers praised the change.
In another moment that tugged at the heartstrings, Mia Farrell from Dublin was surprised with a trip to Florida for her entire family.
Mia had told Tubridy she lives in a busy house with her mother, brother, aunt, cousin and grandparents because her "mam can't get a house".
Among the children who performed during the festive extravaganza were a choir from St Patrick's Primary School in Derry, who joined a group performance of How Far I'll Go from Disney film Moana.
More than 200 children aged as young as four – including 28 toy testers – took part in the show, which this year had a nautical theme inspired by Disney film The Little Mermaid.
The Toy Show began in the early 1970s as a 30-minute slot at the end of RTÉ's flagship Late Late Show and was designed as a guide to the must-have Christmas toys.
Gay Byrne presented the annual programme until Pat Kenny took over in 1999 and then Tubridy in 2009.
