By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
A coastal storm packing fierce winds on Christmas Eve of 2022 was simply too strong for the holiday tree that Nick and Shannon Giordano and their three children had placed on the 44th Street beach in Sea Isle City.
Although it was anchored in the sand with ropes and wooden stakes, the tree went flying down the beach and the ornaments were either lost or destroyed.
Undaunted by what happened last year, the Giordanos returned to the 44th Street beach on Sunday to continue their tradition of planting a Christmas tree in the sand just steps from the ocean.
Starting in 2020, the Giordanos have brought joy to their hometown community of Sea Isle by decorating a Christmas tree that has come to symbolize hope and inspiration during the holidays amid the grimness of the COVID-19 pandemic.
They hope that this year’s Christmas tree on the beach – as the others had done during the height of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 and then briefly in 2022 – will serve as a source of joy and inspiration in the community during the holidays.
“I think that’s the message that we will continue to use. It is the main reason for putting the tree up,” Nick Giordano said in an interview Tuesday.
All five members of the Giordano family pitch in to place the tree in the sand, including the children, Gracelynn, 10, Giovanni, 8, and Vincenzo, 7. Shannon Giordano noted that the kids were eager to help decorate the tree this year.
The Giordanos also brought along the latest addition to the family, their mini Bernedoodle dogs, named Beau and Willow. The puppies were part of the family photo that the Giordanos always take after they finish putting up the tree.
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.
This year, people took to social media wanting to know whether there would be a Christmas tree on the 44th Street beach again.
“We put it up late this year. People were on social media asking, ‘When will it go up? Will it go up?’” Shannon noted.
Just like in previous years, the Christmas tree is expected to be used as a backdrop for many holiday photos or to simply serve as a quiet place of reflection and inspiration.
Each year, visitors also inscribe personal messages and Christmas wishes on seashells that the Giordanos place in the sand at the base of the tree. They have also attached a black magic marker to the tree for the public to write messages on the shells.
Unlike previous years, the Giordanos didn’t decorate the tree with garland and ornaments. Other than a reindeer ornament on top, this year’s tree is largely undecorated.
Shannon explained that by leaving the tree essentially bare, it will encourage members of the community to add their own personal touches with their own decorations.
“We figured we would let everyone else do it,” she said of experiencing the joy of decorating the tree.
This year’s tree is a 7-foot-tall Nordmann fir. The base of the tree has been buried deep into the sand and the rest of the fir has been fortified from the wind with four ropes and wooden stakes anchored in the beach.
Remarkably, the first two beach trees in 2020 and 2021 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.
However, there was no such luck last year when the tree blew over in the wicked Christmas Eve storm. The Giordanos certainly don’t want a repeat with this year’s tree.
“I just hope that it doesn’t blow away,” Shannon emphasized.
