Somewhere right now, there’s a tree that doesn’t know it’s famous yet. As of September 7, Rockefeller Center has not announced the arrival date, origin, dimensions, or lighting date of the 2026 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. Its official holiday information simply advises visitors to check back later in the year.

That uncertainty is part of the annual anticipation. But the rhythm of the tradition offers clues. In 2025, the tree arrived on November 8 after being cut on November 6: a 75-foot Norway spruce from East Greenbush, New York, measuring about 45 feet across and weighing roughly 11 tons. It was covered with more than 50,000 multicolored LED lights on approximately five miles of wire, crowned by the Swarovski star designed by architect Daniel Libeskind, an approximately 900-pound creation holding three million crystals across 70 illuminated spikes.

The tradition reaches back to 1931, when workers constructing Rockefeller Center placed a modest tree at the site. The formal tree-lighting followed in 1933. What began during the center’s construction years has become an international symbol of Christmas in New York, and head gardener Erik Pauze has spent decades searching for each year’s tree, evaluating candidates for size, shape, health, and their ability to withstand the journey to Manhattan.

After the season, the tree gets a second life. Rockefeller Center plans to donate the 2026 tree to Habitat for Humanity, where the wood is milled, treated, and used as lumber for home building, continuing a practice that gives the tree practical purpose after its public display.

And for those who can’t wait until November, Little Italy offers its own answer. At 142 Mulberry Street, a year-round Christmas store keeps ornaments, decorated trees, snow globes, and New York-themed holiday pieces on display through every season, turning the holiday into something visitors can walk into even in September.

From the monumental spruce at Rockefeller Center to the smallest ornament on Mulberry Street, New York gives Christmas room at every scale. When the 2026 tree finally makes its entrance, expected during the traditional November window, it will mark another continuation of a tradition nearly a century old: placing a tree in the middle of the city for people to enjoy together.

Originally published on Times Square Chronicles.