Workers carefully hoist Rockefeller Center’s Norway Spruce Christmas tree into place as it arrives in New York ahead of the lighting ceremony

The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree has arrived, signaling the start of the 2023 holiday season.

Arborists carefully placed the 12-ton Norway spruce in the downtown tourist trap on Saturday morning ahead of the lighting ceremony later this month.

A group of excited passersby watched as workers used heavy ropes and metal bars to lift the giant bush.

The evergreen plant was donated by a Vestal family and made a 200-mile journey from the upstate New York city before taking off in the Big Apple.

Arborists carefully erected the 12-ton Norway spruce in the tourist trap in downtown Manhattan on Saturday morning, ahead of a lighting ceremony later this month

It was taken down Thursday morning and loaded onto the back of a flatbed truck for its journey to the Manhattan holiday hotspot.

Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in 2022

Known for its enchanting display of glittering Christmas lights, it will soon be decorated with an eight-kilometre-long array of more than 50,000 multi-coloured LEDs.

Decorators will complete the festive decor with the signature Swarovski star with three million crystals that has topped the trees of Rockefeller Center since 2004.

Large crowds are expected to flock to the square for the lighting ceremony on Wednesday, November 29, when the pine tree comes to life.

From then on, the tree will light up every day from 5 a.m. to midnight until January 13, with the exception of Christmas Day, when it will be lit for 24 hours.

The tree, donated by the McGinley family, was selected by Rockefeller Center head gardener Erik Pauze, 55, who has worked at the site since starting as a college intern in 1988.

Known for its enchanting display of glittering Christmas lights, the tree will soon be decorated with an eight-kilometer-long string of more than 50,000 multi-colored LEDs

The iconic tree was packed for transport on Thursday and lifted onto a flatbed truck

Pause showed up at the McGinley household on Murray Hill Road a year ago and asked if they were interested in offering their 12-ton tree. 12 News reported.

“It was a complete surprise,” Jackie McGinley told the outlet. ‘But probably the best surprise of our lives.

“My family has suffered quite a bit of loss in our lives and what we know is that after loss, memories stay with people.

“We’re really excited for people to go to that tree or come to our house and make memories because they’ll take them with them forever.”

Norway spruces are fast-growing evergreen trees that can grow up to 55 meters in height and have an average trunk diameter of about 1.5 meters.

The species is used as the main Christmas tree in several countries around the world and can cost between $40 and $1,000 for a decoration typical of a home.

The McGinley family donated the tree. (They are pictured outside Rockefeller Center on Saturday)

A group of excited passersby watched as workers used heavy ropes and metal bars to lift the giant bush.

The evergreen plant was donated by a Vestal family and made a 200-mile journey from the upstate New York city before making its way down to the Big Apple

Online estimates suggest the impressive Rockefeller tree could cost more than $73,000, but the McGinleys donated theirs to the center for free.

It sits outside the $1.2 billion Rockefeller Center, a sprawling complex of 19 commercial buildings covering 22 acres between 48th and 51st streets.

The tree will be removed in January and ground into wood, which since 2007 has been donated to Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit NGO based in Georgia that helps people build, rehabilitate and preserve homes.