'Stuff that can't be replaced': Family of 5 homeless after Cicero apartment fire on Christmas Day

CICERO, Ill. (WLS) -- Instead of waking up to gifts and holiday cheer, one family's Christmas morning was ravaged by a fire, leaving them beginning the holidays without a home.

It happened at a duplex apartment on 29th Place near 50th Court in Cicero.

Their belongings are still scattered on the icy ground after a family of five, with one more on the way, was forced to leave the home they shared for more than a decade and watch it burn on a cold Christmas morning.

"They were looking forward to Christmas, especially my 3-year-old," Julio Avila said.

Avila was about to prepare for a holiday tradition with his family, but he didn't know that soon he'd be preparing to save their lives instead.

"I told my wife, 'wake up, so we can start wrapping up the presents,'" Avila said. "Like, 15 minutes later, that's when my middle child is the one who told me, 'Dad, something's on fire!'"

On Monday, they were still wrapped in some of the same clothes they were wearing when that fire tore through their second-floor apartment in Cicero, sending them into the frigid cold, as years of memories and Christmas gifts burned.

RELATED: 2 injured, including firefighter, in Glenview coach house fire

"Her baptism dresses, her first communion dresses, stuff that can't be replaced, you know?" Avila said.

He said the fire started in the basement of the duplex just below his daughters' bedroom, leaving the entire building a total loss. Now, the family is without a home, as his wife is weeks away from delivering their first son.

"We had everything already set for the baby upstairs, and I think we have to start all over again because everything got damaged," Avila said.

But, the family's patriarch is keeping resilient, planning to make more memories with the one Christmas miracle that remains -- their lives.

"We haven't really celebrated Christmas yet, you know? I'm just trying to get settled, and we do Christmas, maybe, another day, you know?" Avila said.

Avila said another family who lived on the first floor was also displaced.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Avila's brother created a GoFundMe for the family, which had already raised over $3,000 as of Monday evening.