The 2024 Rockefeller Center Christmas tree has sentimental roots.

The tree was planted by the Albert family in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 1967, when Earl Albert and his late wife Leslie were newlyweds.

When the tree was planted it was only waist high. Now, 57 years later, the Norway spruce is 23 meters high.

“We decorated it first when it was small, and then it got so big I couldn’t decorate it anymore,” Earl Albert told NBC’s Joe Fryer in an interview with his family.

The towering beauty of Western Massachusetts caught the attention of Erik Pauze, Rockefeller Center’s head gardener, in 2020. Pauze loved the tree so much that he knocked on Albert’s front door to inquire about the tree.

His timing caused Earl Albert’s son, Michael, to wonder if Pauze might be “an angel or something,” because a few days before Pauze arrived, his mother, Leslie Albert, had died.

“This is definitely her handiwork,” Michael Albert’s wife, Shawn, said of the moment.

When asked how it feels to donate their tree to Rockefeller Center, Earl Albert said it is “probably one of the greatest honors” of his life.

He added that Leslie would be “thrilled” with what became of the tree.

Michael Albert noted that donating the tree also symbolizes a new chapter for their family.

“Honestly, it’s a tribute to my mother. It is a new beginning for the tree. It is a new beginning for our family,” he said.

The tree has already been cut down and is on its way to New York City, where it will be decorated with more than 50,000 multi-colored LED lights and topped with a three-dimensional Swarovski star.

When the McGinley family, who donated last year’s tree, learned that the Alberts were Rockefeller Center’s Christmas tree donors for 2024, they sent the family a card. In it, the McGinleys wrote about their heartwarming experiences seeing their tree high in Rockefeller Center during the 2023 tree lighting ceremony.

“You will never forget the sound, the flip of the switch and the roar of the crowd. It gives you chills, and just the emotion, it’s an overwhelming emotion,” Shawn Albert recalled of the note.

The Albert family will get the chance to see the tree’s lighting in person this year, with Earl Albert saying he will be thinking of his late wife.

In Leslie’s honor, the family also plans to create a memorial for her at the same spot where the tree once stood in Berkshire County.

The 2024 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree will arrive in New York City on Saturday, November 9, and the tree lighting ceremony will take place on Wednesday, December 4.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com