For Paul and Jessica Smith, like many other young families, the last week of December is a wonderful time of excitement and celebration.

But they will remember Christmas of 2008 very differently.

For in a matter of hours, the pine and eggnog smell of the holiday season was replaced by the smoke of a burning wreckage – the charred ruins of their family home.

On Sunday afternoon at about 4 p.m. neighbors reported seeing smoke billowing from the Smith’s home, and within a few short hours the entire structure had been destroyed.

Fortunately the Smith family were in Bellevue at the time, having Christmas dinner with family.

But they returned to find all their possessions damaged or destroyed.

With a new baby on the way, the Smith family are hoping to salvage more than just Christmas, they are trying to resurrect a home.

Fortunately for the Smiths they are surrounded by a close-knit community of neighbors, who within hours of the tragedy had already begun setting up a fund to help the Smith’s get back on their feet.

Neighbor Steve Sanelli and his wife Angelina used to live in the Smith’s house, and raised four children in the same building that on Sunday they watched burn to the ground.

And though he was saddened to see an important part of his family’s history destroyed, it wasn’t long before Steve had moved his thoughts to the immediate future and launched a fund to help the Smith’s get back on their feet.

“They are in need of everything you could think of – clothes, linen, things for their new baby,” Steve said. “From the moment it happened we started getting people from the neighborhood contributing whatever they could, even money donations.

“It’s the way it is around here — we gather around each other when someone is in need.”

Steve has set up an account at Bank of America to accept donations for the Smiths, which can be made at any branch – just mention the ‘Paul and Jessica Rebuild Account.’

Eastside Fire and Rescue were called to the house on the 4,000 block of 192nd Pl SE, at 4.16 p.m. on Sunday.

Six fire fighting units from Eastside, four from Bellevue and one from Renton attended the fire.

A spokesperson for Eastside Fire and Rescue, Josie Williams said due to the advanced stage of the blaze the firefighters were forced to adopt defensive tactics, containing the fire and ensuring it did not spread to neighboring houses.

Williams added that although the cold, icy conditions made a rapid response more difficult than usual, all units arrived at the scene promptly.

After extinguishing the flames and undertaking a salvage operation, the fire units left the scene at 11.26pm.

Investigation Supervisor for the King County Fire Marshall’s Office, Craig Muller, said this week that the fire was still under investigation.

He added that although it was too early to rule definitely, investigators suspected at this stage that the fire was started accidentally.