Massive tree arrives for its NYC debut

Hundreds of onlookers gawked as a crane raised the tree, a metal spike sticking from its trunk, on the Rockefeller Center plaza.

The tree came from the Varanyak family in Hamilton, N.J. The family used it as their own Christmas tree in 1931, then planted it outdoors. Mary Varanyak, who died eight years ago, had predicted it would make it to Rockefeller Center one day.

It will be decorated with thousands of colored lights and topped with a massive crystal star. The televised lighting ceremony will be Dec. 3.

While the first official lighting was in 1933, the first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was put up two years earlier by workers building the complex during the Depression.