{"id":2068,"date":"2025-11-26T12:18:03","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T12:18:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/?p=2068"},"modified":"2025-11-26T12:26:32","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T12:26:32","slug":"amys-wildwood-christmas-tree-at-mudhen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/amys-wildwood-christmas-tree-at-mudhen\/","title":{"rendered":"AMY’S WILDWOOD CHRISTMAS TREE AT MUDHEN"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Erin McGinnis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Five-mile natives know: Christmas at Mudhen Brewing Co. is a holiday must-do. And just about five years ago, the celebrations were only heightened with the addition of the Wildwood Christmas Tree\u2014created, designed, and assembled each year by lifelong local, Amy Russo Coleman. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Mudhen owners and friends Brendan and Robin Sciarra\u2014whom Amy has worked for over 16 years\u2014asked her to take on the project, she dove right in. What began as a seven-foot tree is now a ten-foot labor of love, with new, handmade ornaments added each year. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With her prized possession in hand\u2014a trusty 1977 phone book, which she refers to \u201cmore than Google\u201d\u2014Amy got to work to see that businesses of Wildwood past and present were represented in her ornaments. She strives to showcase everyone who\u2019s made their mark on the island. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that she does\u2014creatively, attentively, and with a whole lot of Mod Podge. Amy pays attention to the way the ornaments lay and hang, how different shapes add dimension, and where certain treasures end up. Visitors can discover Wildwood boats, restaurants, beach balls, old motel room keys, and Amy\u2019s favorite: vintage postcards from the 1940\u2019s. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look closely and you\u2019ll find a special tribute to Amy\u2019s life on the island: a small takeout menu hung by a red and white checkered ribbon. The menu belonged to Amy\u2019s family\u2019s business, the iconic, unforgettable Russo\u2019s Italian Restaurant.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally opened by her Italian immigrant grandparents in 1922 and later passed down to her father and his sisters, Amy grew up in the restaurant. \u201cIt was the greatest experience of my life,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was the focal point of our whole existence.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amy got her start as a salad girl. \u201cIf you really want to get technical, my first job was probably removing the little rubber bands around the parasols for the drinks,\u201dshe laughed. \u201cI think that was just a job my father gave me to do to keep me busy and out of his way when he had to drag me to work.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She worked alongside family and friends, under the leadership of her beloved father, Joe Russo. A funny, easily-likeable, generous man with a heart of gold, \u201cMy dad was the greatest man to walk the face of this earth, if you ask me,\u201dAmy said. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly before her father\u2019s passing, the family decided to close Russo\u2019s doors in 2008. Amy was unaware of the plans until it was too late. \u201cIf that didn\u2019t kill me, nothing will,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was devastating for me.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Davis Avenue, the street her father grew up on, was honorarily named \u201cJoe Russo Avenue\u201d around 2020.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Amy runs the one-woman business, Retro Rides, where she drives people around Wildwood in an unmissable station wagon filled with throwback tunes and old-school mementos. She likes to drive her passengers down her father\u2019s street, saying, \u201c\u2018you gotta say hi to Joe Russo!\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the restaurant is closed today, the Russo family legacy lives on in Amy. Her love for her father, her family, and Wildwood radiates through her tree at Mudhen Christmas, its carefully-crafted ornaments, and every detail down to the ribbon.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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by Erin McGinnis Five-mile natives know: Christmas at Mudhen Brewing Co. is a holiday must-do. And just about five years ago, the celebrations were only heightened with the addition of the Wildwood Christmas Tree\u2014created, designed, and assembled each year by lifelong local, Amy Russo Coleman.  When Mudhen owners and friends Brendan and Robin Sciarra\u2014whom Amy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[3,1,4],"tags":[132],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2068"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2068"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2075,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2068\/revisions\/2075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}