“There,” she said, was Rockefeller Center.

In 2010, she and her husband, Richard O’Donnell, sent a photo of the spruce to Rockefeller Center officials, who look for a tree to light every year. In 2019, her tree was chosen.

The spruce arrived at Rockefeller Center on Nov. 9 and will be lit tonight at 9:50, according to a Rockefeller Center spokeswoman.

In the new year, the tree will be turned into lumber, and eventually into a home by Habitat for Humanity.

Ms. Schultz , who turned 80 last month, said she might plant a tree to replace her towering spruce.

Visiting the 🎄

This year, for the first time, the city has created pedestrian zones around Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall, temporarily closing nearby streets to most vehicular traffic.

Cars and trucks will be mostly banned along 49th and 50th Streets between Fifth and Sixth Avenues during the hours most people visit the tree and other holiday displays (2 p.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday; 1 p.m. to midnight on Friday; and 10 a.m. to midnight on weekends).

“I 100 percent agree with this idea,” Lisa Dontzin, 66, a personal stylist, said on a recent day as she walked to meet a client at Saks Fifth Avenue. “It will indeed make it safer and a little less congested.”

If crowds aren’t your thing, you can watch the lighting ceremony on NBC from 8 to 10 p.m.

🎄 history

Christmas trees have stood at Rockefeller Center for 87 years. The first one was about 20 feet tall.