New York, Nov 8 (EFE). - New York's most popular Christmas tree, which attracts thousands of visitors each year, arrived this Saturday at Rockefeller Center to be decorated and will be ready for the massive tree-lighting ceremony on December 3.
The 23-meter-tall, 14-meter-wide, and 11-ton Norwegian spruce was received at its final destination in Rockefeller Center by Judy Russ and her 7-year-old son, Liam, who donated the pine that was in their backyard in East Greenbush, a suburb of the state capital Albany, to the north.
Dozens of people joined the Russ family to welcome the highly anticipated tree and took the opportunity to take photos of the fir.
"Christmas is very special for us and my family. This year we are doing it on a much larger scale. Last year, I took my son to see the tree with some family and friends. I am so excited to be able to share our family tree with the world," said Ross, 37.
She recalled that after attending the tree last Christmas, they proposed their pine as a candidate for this Christmas in honor of her husband, Dan Russ, who died in 2020 at the age of 32.
The Russ family lives in the house that her husband's great-grandparents bought more than a century ago, and decades later, they planted the pine.
"When we decided that maybe we should rent a crane to decorate it, that's when we realized this was more than just a tree in the yard, that it could really be something special," Russ indicated.
The 60-year-old fir will be adorned with over 50,000 multicolor LED lights and about eight kilometers of cable, and at its top, it will have a 2.7-meter, 400-kilogram Swarovski star covered by 3 million crystals, and will remain lit until mid-January.
Judy and Liam will return to Rockefeller Center for the tree lighting, and after Christmas, its wood will be used to build homes for Habitat for Humanity.
