The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

One morning in early November a tree arrives on the Plaza, and Midtown slows down to look. This year it comes on November 7.

For the next few weeks it stands wrapped and waiting, the skaters circling below. Then, on December 2, the Tree Lighting Ceremony switches it on and the season officially begins.

It started in December 1931, when construction workers pooled together for a 20-foot balsam fir. When this season ends, the 2026 tree will be donated to Habitat for Humanity and milled into lumber for new homes, so the glow you stand under becomes someone's front door.