On November 12th, the Rockefeller Tree arrived in Manhattan signaling the start of the Christmas Holidays. I know it was before Thanksgiving, but don’t judge. I personally wait until after Thanksgiving to put up my tree and decorations, but if a city plaza wants to truck in an 82 foot, 14-ton tree across the country and lift it with a crane before you carve your turkey, then so be it. They didn’t light it until November 30th, more than enough time for you to recover from the turkey coma.

The tree is beautiful and the city dresses it up in thousands of lights and a star with millions of crystals and has been a quintessential part of New Yorker’s Christmas Experience for over 80 years.

The History of The Rockefeller Tree

In 1931, during the Great Depression, workers at Rockefeller Center, polled their money together to purchase a 20-foot balsam tree and decorated it with handmade ornaments and tin. It must have been a hit, because by 1933 Rockefeller Center decided to make it an annual tradition that included a lighting ceremony. In 1936 there were two trees at Rockefeller center and a newly constructed ice-skating rink.

World War II caused the city to conserve resources. They erected three smaller trees instead of one large one during Christmas 1942 and decorations took on a patriotic feels with themes of red, white and blue. The decorations were made out of materials that were not valuable war resources. Additionally, from 1942 until the end of the war in 1945 the Rockefeller Christmas Trees went unlit due to Blackout Regulations.

After the war, traditions and trees only grew. By 1955 the decorating process had grown in size and now required scaffolding, an army of workers and over a week of time to create the perfect tree. In 1998 a tree donated from Richfield, Ohio wasflown on the world’s largest transport plane, the Anatov An-124 Ruslan. 1999 holds the record for being the largest Christmas Tree at the plaza at an impressive 100 feet tall.

A Million Stars

The Swarovski Star first arrived to adorn the tree in 2004. This piece of art had 25,000 crystals, one million facets and was 9.5 feet in diameter. The following Christmas artists incorporated LED lights to create a sparkling effect. The star was in use until 2018 when architect Daniel Libeskind created a new 9-foot 4-inches star featuring 3 million Swarovski crystal on 70 star spikes. It weighs 900 pounds.

This Year’s Tree

This year’s tree is approximately 90-years-old and came 200 miles from Queensbury New York. They had to truck in on a flat bed down the freeway, which would be a sight. It took more than 50,000 lights to light it up, which is around 5 miles of wire. The website does not list an official date for when the tree will come down.  When it does, officials say they will donate the lumber to Habitat for Humanity.

The tree is lit daily from 6am-midnight, except on Christmas Day it is lit for 24 hours. This means that there is ample time to visit the tree, perhaps even multiple times.

The rest of the Plaza and area is gorgeous and Christmassy as well. The famous Saks Fifth Ave lightshow is a spectacular towering fall of perfectly synchronized lights and music. Not too far is the Macy windows which always features a fun, unique Christmas display. It’s also worth a visit to stop by Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. Inside the hushed halls and away from the hustle and bustle, the quiet, serene and reverent cathedral offers a place of reflection.

If you can handle the packed crowds, where people are pushing each other for no reason besides being annoyed that we all showed up to see a sparkling tree, the street vendors selling peanuts and light-up wands, and the taxis inching their way through the packed streets, then the Rockefeller Tree is a must for your Christmas season. It took my breath away the first time I saw it and reminded me how cute humans are, and how much work we create for ourselves to make something pretty.