Yes, it’s fir real.
A New York woman who donated her 75-year-old Norway spruce to become this year’s Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree initially thought she was the target of a prank when a team from Manhattan came knocking.
Rebecca Decker was even more stunned when Rockefeller Center’s head gardener, Erik Pauze, revealed he had been keeping an eye on the towering 76-foot evergreen since before she purchased the property where it grows.
“I thought that he was absolutely joking,” Decker told the TODAY show Friday.
“I was like, ‘I live in the middle of nowhere.’ I definitely thought it was fake at first.”
The towering Norway spruce was removed from Decker’s front yard Thursday morning.
The massive evergreen was planted 75 years ago by the home’s original owner and builder, Carl Camenga, who died on Christmas Day a decade ago, according to WBNG News 12.
Decker moved into the property with her three children five years ago and had even considered cutting down the giant spruce over concerns that it could topple onto her home.
But Rockefeller Center head gardener Erik Pauze saw things differently, declaring the tree’s size “perfect” and revealing that he had been watching the towering spruce since 2020 — before Decker even moved in.
Pauze wasn’t the only one who recognized the spruce’s star potential.
Jackie and Matt McGinley, who donated the 2023 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, contacted him in June to recommend a towering evergreen in West Edmeston, a rural community about an hour from Cooperstown.
“I look at the [text], and it said, ‘Hey, take a look at this tree.’ And I look at the address, and I’m like, ‘Wait a second, I know that address.’ And sure enough, it was this tree,” Pauze recalled.
“And you know what? That was confirmation that this tree belongs at Rockefeller Center.”
Decker’s massive spruce is set to arrive in Midtown Manhattan on Saturday, marking the unofficial start of New York City’s holiday season.
The tree won’t officially sparkle until the annual Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on Dec. 2, but it will also be featured in this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Decker’s 76-foot Norway spruce is set to take center stage at Rockefeller Center this Christmas.
Decker, who donated the towering evergreen, plans to make the four-hour trip to Manhattan with her children for the annual tree-lighting ceremony, where the spruce will be decked out in 50,000 sparkling lights and crowned with a Swarovski crystal star.
But the celebration will be bittersweet for the family, who consider Christmas their favorite holiday.
“I’m actually a little sad to see it leave now,” Decker admitted.
“Now I don’t really know how the yard’s going to look without it. It’s definitely going to be a conversation for a little while.”
