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The gifts were not opened at David Collins home, and were not under the tree.
Instead, Collins loaded them into the back of his pickup, to take to his family in the hospital.
It all started around 8:30 a.m.
"As soon as I woke up, I had a splitting headache this morning," Collins said.
And so did Collins' fiancée.
Collins' 5-year-old, Lea-Rosa, was throwing up, and his 2-year-old girl wasn't even thinking about presents.
"All of their faces were very pale; the grandmother was also throwing up this morning," Collins explained.
The family rushed out of the house, and when firefighters arrived, they found a carbon monoxide leak coming from the furnace of the home.
"The fire department said we are very fortunate. It could have been much worse. They have seen much worse," Collins said.
Collins moved into the rental home a few months ago.
During the confusion, Collins decided to test the carbon monoxide detector by putting in some fresh batteries.
"As soon as I did that, it went off, and we knew at that point something had to be wrong," Collins said.
The hospital told Collins everyone will be alright, and should be able to return to the home after the leak is fixed.
"Christmas so far hasn't been fun, my kids got up, didn't get to open any presents at all, they woke up to pounding headaches and throwing up. No, it's not a good Christmas so far," Collins said, "Definitely keep your batteries new, period."
Collins says he's not sure if the batteries in the carbon monoxide detector were low, or dead.
The Collins family will try and salvage the rest of their Christmas as they stay overnight at a family member's home.
(KUSA-TV © 2010 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)