ELK RAPIDS -- You could call it a Christmas miracle. Thanks to a kind heart and a little digging, 7&4 news has helped trace a boy's lost Christmas present back to the man who bought it in Texas!

For Cole Witte and his family it was supposed to just be a nice walk down the beach in Elk Rapids on Monday but it turned out to be so much more.

Along the shores of the Palmer Wilcox Preserve, Cole noticed a small object floating in the water.  After closer inspection, he realized he was holding a remote-control airplane with a built in camera. Being the tech-savvy guy that he is, Cole got home and immediately uploaded the footage...

After watching the video, he could pin-point that the plane was flying near the Pine-Stead Reef Resort in Traverse City and it appeared to be a lost Christmas present. Cole Witte explains, "When I picked it up off the shore it was pretty new looking, it's not a robust plane but it looked fresh. It must have survived 12 miles up the bay so it must have been pretty new to not have much damage. The other thing was in the video there was a lot of snow on the ground."

And here's where it becomes a Christmas miracle, after getting an e-mail from Cole, 7&4 news hit the Craigslist website and found an ad from a Texas man, looking for his son's missing "Air Hog Plane" -- the same plane Cole Witte picked up off the beach.

It had crash landed in the water, while the family was on Christmas vacation in Traverse City this past week, the wind carried it nearly 12-miles north-east to Elk Rapids.

Monday night 7&4 News contacted Derrick Berg, he let us share the news with his 13 year-old son Nick, who can't wait to get his Christmas present back.

To check out his reaction & the full report click on the video above.