After being gifted a battery powered USPS truck for Christmas, a local family in Upper Gwynedd took it upon themselves to use it to spread a little holiday cheer.
For Christmas, 3-year-old Ava Parnes was gifted a battery powered postal truck along with a postal service outfit by her grandfather, who is a USPS mail carrier in South Carolina.
Her mother, Ashley, came up with the idea to make Christmas cards for some of their neighbors in the Sugar Valley neighborhood in Upper Gwynedd Township. She posted on Facebook asking if anyone was interested in having custom made Christmas cards delivered to them in the mail truck on Wednesday afternoon.
Ashley and Ava then cut out and individually painted Christmas trees on cards and delivered them to 15 people who responded.
“Since I was a kid, I used to always joke that [my father] was like the dad from ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas,’” Ashley said. “He was always so busy, but he loved his job.”
When Ashley’s father learned that his gift was being put into good use, he was excited and thought it was funny.
“Seeing her take a gift that typical kids would just enjoy and not really do anything about it, he was he was over the moon about it,” Ashley said.
While they lasted about five houses with the truck and then had to drive in their van, Ava still had a fun time, and her neighbors greatly appreciated the gesture.
“Everyone was pretty excited,” said Mike Parnes, Ava’s father. “She got a couple gifts from three or four of our [neighbors]. One lady said it made her week. She was so excited.”
One neighbor in particular came outside to see Ava’s truck and observe how she drove. When Ava came home, she told her parents she thought the neighbor was really nice.
“That really made her day that he came out and was so sweet and really cared about the process which was nice to see,” Ashley said.
Her parents found it eye opening that their 3-year-old understood that Christmas is beyond gift giving — it’s about other people.
“It was really nice for me as her mom to see her go through every single step for making the cards to putting them in the envelopes to then taking them to people's houses and seeing her reaction of the people getting so happy,” Ashley said.
“This time of the year it's all about giving instead of receiving and we're trying to teach her that from an early age,” Mike said.
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