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It really happened.
In the days after Christmas Prelude, someone left a tree by the road in coastal Maine. Instead of letting it go to the trash, we carried it down to the beach, anchored it in the cold sand, and wrapped it in solar lights — then decorated it entirely with treasures from the shore.
What happened next, no one planned. People stopped to admire it and, without a word, began adding offerings of their own. One day, painted rocks appeared beneath the branches, just like wrapped presents. To this day, no one knows who left them.
A nor'easter eventually swept the tree out to sea. It seemed to be over — until, weeks later, a familiar twinkle blinked softly in the seagrass. Every year since, a tree returns to that same stretch of beach, shared by neighbors and strangers alike.