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It was the vacation the St-Denis family had been planning since September: Christmas with an aunt and uncle in Florida, and then a week-long cruise to the Bahamas and Mexico.

They left for Fort Lauderdale in the family van on Friday evening.

Seven hours later, Roger St-Denis, his son and one daughter were dead after a head-on collision with a pickup truck travelling the wrong direction on a Pennsylvania highway.

"This is not Christmas," said a teary-eyed Angela Paula St-Denis as she hugged daughter Thérèse St-Denis. Angela St-Denis has a fractured breast bone, her daughter scrapes and bruises. Monday they were in their Pickering home, near Toronto, surrounded by friends and family.

"My husband didn't let us do much shopping. He said we would do it all in Florida."

Mr. St-Denis, 52, his son Paul Francois, 21, and daughter Angela Michelle, 15, died at the scene. Ms. St-Denis, 52, and her oldest daughter Thérèse, 22, were treated in a Bedford, Pa., hospital before being released and returning home.

Jeremy Grimes, 23, who was driving the pickup truck, was treated at hospital.

Pennsylvania State Police, Bedford Station, said alcohol was a factor in the crash. Charges are pending against Mr. Grimes.

Monday, Ms. St-Denis said that she had been "sort of watching the traffic and dozing in the middle in the backseat. The next thing I heard was a big explosion. When I opened my eyes, I saw that my 15-year-old daughter, who had been sitting to my left, had been thrown out of the car."

Her husband and son were trapped inside. "I was later told they died on impact," Ms. St-Denis said. Her younger daughter, who had been ejected from the van, had a weak pulse. "A woman who was driving by came to help. She said she was a nurse and felt Angela's pulse. It was very weak."

Police said the pickup struck the left front of the family's van.

"It was like a big force pushing the car," said Thérèse, an engineering student at Queen's University in Kingston. "I remember hearing my mother screaming my sister's name."

A tractor-trailer driver who had been just ahead of their van called 911.

"He told me later that he flashed the truck's lights to tell the pickup driver that he was on the wrong side," Ms. St-Denis said. "But the pickup driver nicked into him before he slammed into our van."

Mr. St-Denis, who had been driving the van, was a computer networker with the Bank of Montreal.

Paul had been in the fourth year of a computer software development program at Seneca College, York, while Angela was in Grade 10 at Étienne Brûlé School.

"Angela was a gymnast with Pickering Athletic Centre," said Ms. St-Denis, a teacher at Sacred Heart Catholic School in Scarborough area. "She had just cut off her hair and donated it to the Cancer Society," her mother said, wiping away tears.

The family had not had a holiday together for a long time.

"We had a 92-year-old aunt who lived with us," Ms. St-Denis said. "We never left her alone. She passed away recently and so we were going away together.

"Next Saturday, we would've been on the cruise."

The atmosphere in the Pickering house was sombre. Roger and Angela St-Denis had been married for 23 years. Monday mother and daughter held onto on another.

Ms. St-Denis's brother, Frank Cirone, tried to console his grieving sister and niece.

Mr. Cirone described his niece Angela and nephew Paul as angels. "Roger volunteered for St. Vincent's Kitchen as a co-ordinator once a month. While Angela volunteered as the chef, the kids always joined to help for the day."

Despite a hectic schedule, Mr. Cirone said, his brother-in-law was involved with many charities and did a lot of volunteer work. He was closely associated with Victim Crisis Assistance & Referral Services for Durham Police. He had been acknowledged and honoured for his work.

"He was a regular blood donor — he told me once he first donated blood when he was a teenager," said Mr. Cirone, who shared his brother-in-law's love for hockey and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

"He was so full of life, hated to sit idle for even a second."

He said his brother-in-law, who used to belong to the Pickering Sailing Club, recently donated his sailboat to sea scouts. "That's the kind of a person he was — very giving."

Mr. Cirone had been with the family Friday evening at their home, just before they left for Fort Lauderdale in their Toyota. He remembers they were all excited.

"I wanted to wish them a Merry Christmas and a safe journey."

The funeral will be held Jan. 3 at St. Isaac Jogues Roman Catholic Church, on Finch Avenue in Pickering.