By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
During a grim year when everyone could use some extra holiday cheer, Sea Isle City residents Shannon and Nicholas Giordano decided to help lift up the community’s spirits by decorating a Christmas tree.
On the beach, of all places.
“I saw a picture of a Christmas tree on the beach in Ocean City. I said to my husband, ‘We’re going to put a tree on the beach here.’ He said, ‘What?’ Well, obviously we did,” Shannon recalled of their conversation.
Now, a whimsically decorated 6-foot-tall Douglas fir bought by the Giordanos is anchored in the sand on Sea Isle’s 44th Street beach. The Giordanos wanted to create a symbol of hope and source of joy for the entire community during an otherwise challenging time amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“Everything about it has been positive, for sure. People love it,” Shannon said in an interview Friday while watching beachgoers admire the tree. “We want everyone to put decorations on it, which they have.”
The Giordanos trimmed the tree with garland, balls and a top star. Members of the community have since added to the decorations with an array of traditional ornaments as well as some quaint beach-themed touches ranging from toy sand shovels to hand-painted seashells.
Scattered in the sand at the base of the tree are even more seashells, some inscribed with personal messages and Christmas wishes. There are also some gifts. A bowl filled with dog treats says “Woof Woof Merry Christmas.”
Harriett and Dennis Fenerty, a couple from Anchorage, Alaska, left a seashell decorated with the greeting, “Merry Christmas from Alaska.”
The Fenertys escaped from Alaska’s chilly temperatures and snow with a winter getaway at the Jersey Shore. They have ties to Sea Isle.
“This was the first time we decided to get out of Alaska for the winter,” said Dennis, who was a Sea Isle lifeguard in the 1960s and ’70s.
Harriett said that when they left Alaska, it was snowing and 23 degrees. On Friday, she was dressed in shorts while enjoying the mild weather on the Sea Isle beach.
The Fenertys weren’t the only ones marveling over the Christmas tree. Since it was placed on the beach Monday by the Giordanos, it has become a communitywide attraction and the backdrop for countless family pictures.
Bill Wanner, who lives in Sea Isle with his wife, Nancy, was taking cellphone photos of the tree that he planned to send to his daughters, Colleen and Michelle.
“I feel great about the tree. It’s nice, especially in 2020, that something can remind us of the joys of the holiday season and that good things are going to happen,” Wanner said, alluding to the vaccines being developed for COVID-19.
Samantha Abbonizio, of Wynnewood, Pa., was showing the tree to 2-year-old Logan O’Connor, the son of her friend, Lisa O’Connor, of Sea Isle. Logan smiled when Abbonizio picked him up for a closer look at the shiny ornaments.
“I think it’s a great idea. It brings some cheer at a time when we all need it,” Abbonizio said, smiling.
Mayor Leonard Desiderio, who visited the tree Friday with City Councilman J.B. Feeley, thanked the Giordanos for “brightening up our lives during this most difficult year.”
“Adding the tree to the 44th Street beach was a wonderful idea and everyone really seems to be enjoying it,” Feeley said.
Sea Isle also has another Christmas tree on the beach, at 84th Street, in Townsends Inlet. Anchored in the sand on top of the dunes, it is adorned with garland, ornaments and hand-inscribed holiday wishes.
At the base of the tree is a message that says, “Life is better at the beach.”
Cindi Boone, of Carneys Point, N.J., stopped to see the tree at 84th Street after admiring the one on the 44th Street beach. Boone is spending the weekend in Cape May and making the rounds to see an assortment of holiday beach trees in Ocean City, Sea Isle and Wildwood.
“I saw the one at 44th Street and just had to see this one, too,” Boone said of the smaller tree at 84th Street. “They are a wonderful treat for the holidays.
