It seems as though this time of the year is a time when most people wish for peace on earth and good will toward humankind.

Since 1988, Hermosa Beach resident Peggy Marsh has given those in the wishing spirit a chance to immortalize their hopes and dreams.

Every year, local passers-by have the opportunity to write down their wishes and put them on a 6-foot-tall Norfolk star pine, known as the “wishing tree” standing at the corner of 24th Street and Manhattan Avenue in Hermosa Beach. 

Marsh who has lived in the same house that sits on that corner since 1964, first conceived of the idea while she used to wonder what was on the minds of those people who would walk by her home.

“The wishes follow what’s happening in the world on both a global and personal level,” said Marsh.

Aside from contemplating what people were thinking about, Marsh’s other form of inspiration for the tree came after visiting Japan and taking notice of prayer flags hanging throughout the country.

“It’s kind of an East-meets-West tradition,” said Marsh.

Every holiday season for the past 15 years, Marsh’s pine becomes the wishing tree where people have the opportunity to write down their wishes for the new year on homemade tags and hang them on its branches.

Following New Year’s Day, the tree will be covered with an estimated 150 small white tags. In the first year, Marsh collected 40 tags. Each year, Marsh along with her family and friends host a small dinner party and harvest the wishes by reading them aloud.

“In this time of year, it’s nice to make a connection with people, to be able to step into someone’s space for a moment and see what others think and feel,” said Marsh. “We give voices to the wishes and many of them have stayed with us. I think everyone has something in their heart they want to express.”

Both Marsh and her daughter Kate Parazette catalog the wishes each year and hope to someday publish a book filled with them.

“We would love to put together a book as a way of giving back to the community,” explained Parazette. “My son mentioned it would be really nice to look at the human spirit spread over the years.”

This year, Marsh will have collected about 2,000 wishes written by people of all ages, most of which are anonymous.

“Some of the wishes made by children range from world peace to no nuclear war to wanting their parents to stay together to hoping a toy is still in stock at the store,” said Parazette. “We always seem to get more wishes for things on a global scale more than on a personal level. It’s more centered on the prosperity of human life. You don’t see wishes from those obsessed with self.”

Marsh has heard of a few wishes actually coming true including one in which a woman wished for a trip to Paris and on Valentine’s Day the woman’s husband surprised her with one.

“If the tree is not out, it’s missed,” added Parazette. “I think people have a need to wish and I think it’s not only therapeutic for us when we read them out loud but those people who took the time to make one.”