This spruce is ready for its star turn in the big city.
it Rockefeller Center The Christmas tree has begun its journey to Manhattan — where it will serve as a touching tribute to a beloved nurse whose yuletide spirit was as strong as the mighty branch.
A 74-foot-tall, 11-ton Norway spruce was lowered by crane Thursday into the West Stockbridge, Mass., home of Earl Albert, who provided the eccentric pine in honor of his Christmas-obsessed late mother Leslie, who died Was. Age 78.
Albert was approached by Rockefeller Center’s head groundskeeper in 2020 about providing the tree – and he realized it could stand as a memorial to him, because of the COVID-19 pandemic that year. He died during the U.S. and did not receive a proper burial, the couple told wnyt.com
“She was a huge pillar in this community,” Shawn Albert told the station. “Due to Covid we could not perform the last rites.”
“She didn’t get the sendoff she deserved, so that’s it,” he said of the tree tribute to his mother-in-law.
Leslie – a part-time school nurse who previously owned a grocery store with her husband – was known for her generous spirit and hosting “wonderful Christmas parties”, according to her obituary.
“She especially loved Christmas and the Fourth of July, and celebrated both with grandeur. How many people decorate trees for Christmas and the Fourth of July?” his obit reads,
The giant conifer — which will be decorated with a dazzling 50,000 multicolored lights Saturday — is the first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree grown outside New York state since 1959.
It was first spotted in the couple’s front yard by Eric Paus, Rockefeller Center’s head gardener, when he was passing through the small town, about 140 miles from the Big Apple, in 2020.
Locals and tourists have flocked to the home since word of the stately cedar’s celebrity status became known.
“It’s amazing. The small town is now famous,” said Wendy Lampro CBS Boston Since he directed the traffic while cutting trees.
Crowds of spectators wearing Santa hats and festive sweaters gathered Thursday morning to watch workers cut down the giant tree.
As the spruce was loaded for the trip south, carolers dressed as elves from the Monument Mountain Regional High School Choir in Great Barrington sang holiday songs.
Choir director Julie Bickford said, “It’s a grand milestone, but Rockefeller Center will have a new life for the holidays.”
The tree will be lit and topped with a Swarovski crystal star during the “Christmas in Rockefeller Center” event on December 4, and will remain lit until mid-January.
With post wires.
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