Ever since her family moved in 18 years ago, the giant blue spruce in Klaudia Spangler's Western Springs yard has been a venue for celebrating birthdays, a landmark for directing visitors and a fortress providing shade.



But the tree's size also made it too cumbersome to decorate, so it never truly became the light-covered holiday centerpiece the self-proclaimed "Christmas maniac" had envisioned. This year, though, it will get its chance to shine.



Voters have selected the Spanglers' spruce to adorn Daley Plaza as Chicago's Christmas tree, the city announced this morning.



"The exciting thing is it will be all lit up for everyone to see and kind of how I envisioned it when we first moved here," Spangler said.



The family had considered cutting down the 55-foot tree, which towers precariously close to the house, but didn't have the heart to go through with it.



So the Spanglers entered it into the city's Christmas tree contest last year and made it to the final round before falling short on votes. But friends and family persuaded them to try again this year and lent their support with online votes from around the globe. Their tree came out on top among the 38 entries.