ASBURY PARK - For some at the Jersey Shore, creating art is preferable to cutting down a tree to celebrate the holidays, and now that abstract idea is gradually turning into a boardwalk tradition.

The Giving Tree is not actually a happy book. ... Despite the tree being reduced to a stump, the book declares in its final lines, "the tree was happy" — a line that has made many mothers wince.

Hundreds of festival attendees stopped by the tree Saturday, June 29 to admire some of the tree’s popular gifts, including artwork, jewelry, candy, scarves, small toys, mints, bars of soap and more.

And now she’s doing so with The Giving Tree. Linda Reynolds wanted to do something for others while her art studio “Stuff Dreams are Made Of” was closed during the pandemic.