Mark and Darcy Kromer did not care what happened Christmas Day. In fact, Darcy was dreading waking up that morning.

On Sept. 15, the family that started as just a teenage couple who then married in 1978 became just a couple again.

Their only child, Bradley Kromer, of Niles, died at age 25 of a health condition, the day before their 32nd wedding anniversary. Brad also left a fiancee, Anna Hartley, and their 2-year-old daughter, Rylan, both of Edwardsburg.

The 2003 Niles High School graduate had fallen victim to seizures and didn’t have health insurance. His family never determined what caused his death.

Brad’s family was devastated, and the holidays only reminded them of what they had lost.

“Friday night we were saying we were the only unhappy people in the world on Christmas,” Mark said. “‘It’s going to be a terrible, terrible Christmas.'”

But something unexpected on Christmas Day would change the Mark, Darcy, Anna and Rylan forever.

“I work up at 4 a.m. in the morning because I haven’t been able to sleep since my son died,” Mark said. “About 8:30 I yelled for her to ‘come out, it’s Christmas morning.'”

For the first time since his son’s death, Mark opened the blinds in his living room. He couldn’t believe what he saw.

The trees were covered in Christmas decorations — ornaments and tinsel were strewn throughout the yard. The Kromers hadn’t decorated that year; in fact, Mark had just put a tree up inside the house.

He suspected his sister, or their neighbors in the Barron Lake neighborhood, Todd and Sandy, had pulled the stunt to lift their spirits. They didn’t understand how the visit could have happened because they have a dog and a motion sensor light outside.

But Mark was more than surprised at what he found next.

He went outside and found a concrete angel, praying on its knees, sitting next to the door. Around the corner was a large box.

“To: The Kromer Family, With Care, The Christmas Commandos” was written on one side.

Baffled, the Kromers — who had never heard of the Christmas Commandos — opened the box and found a blanket worth $40 inside.

More gifts were underneath — many more.

“We didn’t want to open any more until Anna got here,” Mark said.

Once Anna and Rylan arrived, they opened the presents left by the mysterious visitors. Inside were numerous gift cards, including $50 in car washes from Drive and Shine; $25 for Barnes and Noble;, $60 for Martin’s Super Market for Anna and Rylan; a year-long pass to the Potawatomi Zoo; a gift certificate for Salon Nouveau; a Build-A-Bear coupon; a Notre Dame football signed by some of the players, including the marker used to sign it; and several gifts. A note said a tree provided by Paul Blum Farms would be planted in the spring in memory of Brad.

A scroll-like note tied with a ribbon was fastened to the side of the box.

Part of the note said, “We know how difficult it must be for you this Christmas and want you to know that so many people care about you.”

Including was a decorative ornament that said “Believe,” what they have heard is the Christmas Commandos’ signature gift.

“Anna and I both got a journal to write in,” Darcy said. “Everything was so personalized.”

“It’s like they knew exactly what we’d been through,” Mark said. “These people need to know what this did for us.”

Each gift was something at least one of the family members would appreciate.

The Kromers were so shocked and emotionally drained from their visitors, they couldn’t visit relatives as planned that Sunday.

“We cried all day on Christmas about it,” Darcy said. “Why were we chosen? Out of all the people in Niles? In Cass County?”

The Christmas Commandos is a non-profit, national organization with local groups that conduct “ambushes” like the one at the Kromers’ home. Its participants are anonymous, and little is known about how membership is formed and how the recipients are chosen.

A South Bend-area group may have been formed recently, as reports of other recipients in Indiana surfaced around Christmas.

“What a terrific feeling the Christmas Commandos gave us,” Darcy, who had waited a couple weeks to go public with her story because she broke down every time she talked about it.

“It just gave me chills,” said Anna, who had been with Brad since 2005 and became engaged to him on Christmas Day of 2009.

The Kromers agree that if Brad knew what the Christmas Commandos had done, he would have been blown away, just as they still are today.

“He was an amazing father and he loved us both,” Anna said.

“That’s what keeps us going now, is that,” Mark said as he pointed to his blond-haired granddaughter, who Anna said is too young to completely comprehend where her father is.

“We say our prayers at night and say hi to Daddy,” Anna said.