By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Members of the Giordano family each had their hands full as they headed out to the 44th Street beach.
Vincenzo, 6, dragged a big rake through the sand, his 7-year-old brother, Giovanni, carted a shovel, and their 9-year-old sister, Gracelynn, had a plastic bucket.
Their mom, Shannon, carried a sledgehammer and some wood stakes. Their dad, Nick, had the toughest job, lugging an 8-foot-tall Norway spruce down the beach pathway.
For three years in a row, the Giordanos have brought joy to their hometown community of Sea Isle City by planting a Christmas tree on the beach that has come to symbolize hope and inspiration during the holidays amid the grimness of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As they received praise and thanks from passersby on the beach Saturday, Nick and Shannon Giordano, with help from their children, anchored the tree deep into the sand, reinforced it from the ocean winds with wood stakes and rope and then decorated it with garland, candy canes and ornaments.
By the time they finished up late Saturday afternoon, just as the sun was beginning to duck beneath the horizon, the Giordano family had created another beautiful Christmas tree adorning the beach.
They hope that this year’s Christmas tree – as the others had done during the peak months of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 – will serve as a source of joy and inspiration in the community during the holidays.
“Regardless of the pandemic, people are still looking for reasons for hope,” Nick Giordano said. “I think if we do our little part to give someone something to look forward to, then we’ll keep doing it.”
Echoing her husband’s words, Shannon Giordano noted that the family intends to make the beach tree a tradition year after year.
When the pandemic raged in 2020, the Giordanos decided to decorate a tree on the beach at 44th Street to provide some simple holiday cheer. Little did they know at the time just how spiritually uplifting the tree would become for their entire hometown.
Word of the beach tree quickly spread through the community and on social media. Inspired by such a powerful symbol of the holidays, residents and tourists began visiting it, as if making a pilgrimage, to add to the decorations that the Giordanos had placed on it.
Each year, visitors also inscribed personal messages and Christmas wishes on seashells placed in the sand at the base of the trees.
Gracelynn, Giovanni and Vincenzo scoured the beach on Saturday to find more shells for holiday messages. Using a black magic marker that the Giordanos have left at the tree for the public to use, all three kids printed their family name on some shells. Giovanni also drew some hearts on his shell to add a loving touch for the family.
Remarkably, the first two trees lasted through the winter, all the way to early spring. Making sure the trees’ impact on the community continued well after Christmas, the Giordanos also decorated them for Valentine’s Day, then St. Patrick’s Day and finally Easter.
“I like it when it’s starting to get warm in March and people are sitting on the beach while the tree’s still here,” Shannon Giordano said with a smile.
Only after the trees had become somewhat bare from exposure to the elements for five months did the Giordanos finally decide to take them down in April.
Just like what happened with the 2020 and 2021 trees, the Norway spruce is expected to be used as a backdrop for many holiday photos or to simply serve as a quiet place of reflection and inspiration.
Sea Isle residents who were walking on the beach Saturday expressed their joy in seeing a new Christmas tree being decorated by the Giordanos.
“It’s awesome. We love the tradition. We’ll put our own ornaments on it, too,” said Alycia Milligan, who was with her husband, Michael.
The Milligans, who live on 44th Street, said they were a bit disappointed when they didn’t see any Christmas tree while they were walking on the beach on Friday. They told Nick and Shannon Giordano that they were elated when they spotted the tree on Saturday afternoon.
Another Sea Isle resident, Joe Haines, gave the Giordanos a hearty “Thank you, guys” when he saw the tree being decorated. Haines, who lives at 39th Street and Pleasure Avenue, was walking on the beach with his son, Victor, and a friend, Rae Gorman.
“This is awesome. We look forward to seeing the tree every year but didn’t know who did it,” Haines said.
Haines said he was glad to finally meet the “mystery people” who plant the beach tree.
“Voila, there you are,” Haines told the Giordanos, prompting laughter from everyone.
