Rockefeller Center welcomed the official harbinger of the holiday season today — a Norway Spruce which will serve as this year’s Christmas tree.
Standing 74-feet in height, 40-feet in diameter and weighting a whopping 12-tons, the tree was donated by the Acton family of Mahopac.
“When we were approached about the tree I was skeptical,” Peter Acton, 38, a firefighter and September 11th first responder, of Engine Company 79 in the Bronx, told the Post. “It looks much bigger than it did at my house. It really is the ideal Christmas tree.”
For years, people told the Acton family the tree would make a perfect centerpiece in midtown Manhattan.
But for Seamus, 11, and Fiona, 7, the tree was an old friend with excellent climbing branches.
“I thought it would sit in our yard for the next 100 years,” Seamus, said. “I think it will miss our house and our family.”
The decision to cut down the 75-year old behemoth was bittersweet for the Actons, who held sunset picnics beneath its branches.
“It’s a gift to the people of New York and to everyone who visits the city this holiday season,” Peter said. “It never really belonged to us, and now everyone gets to enjoy it.”
Over the next few weeks the spruce will get the celebrity treatment.
The tree will be adorned with 30,000 multi-colored lights and a 9½-foot Swarovski crystal star.
The Acton’s Norway Spruce will join the ranks of the most famous Christmas trees in the world — a Rockefeller Center tradition that dates back to 1933.
“It’s a tremendous honor,” Stephanie Acton, 34, said, “But I think I won’t believe it until I see it lit up with the star on the very top.”
The official tree lighting ceremony will take place in Rockefeller Center on November 30.