The Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center has become a well-known figure during the holiday season in New York City. Thousands of people gather around to midtown Manhattan to get a good look around of the most excessive Christmas tree in America. The tree is lit every day from 5:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. until January 7, except for Christmas Day, when it will be lit 24 hours.

According to Fox 5, the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree came alive with five miles of LED multicolored lights and a 900-pound Swarovski crystal star. In 2008, Fergie debuted the 900 pound Swarovski star that sits on top of the tree. The star is made up of 25,000 crystals, 720 LED bulbs, 3,000 feet of wire and 44 circuit boards. With the beauty that surrounds the tree and the lighting all around today is how the holiday tradition began.

As stated to the Photographic History of the Rockefeller Christmas Tree by Kate Hogan, on Christmas Eve 1931, with the nation involved in the Great Depression, a group of construction workers decorated the 20 foot tree in the Rockefeller Center construction cite as the Great Depression wore on. The men decided to decorate it with cranberries, homemade paper garland from their families and tin cans. All the men gathered to line up alongside the tree to receive their paychecks. Two years later in 1933, Rockefeller Center decided to make the gorgeous tree an annual tradition and held the first official lighting ceremony with a 50-foot tree. In 1936, they created an ice rink, which they put up two tree marks for the opening day and also held an ice skating competition.

Over the years, the tree has changed with the times. In 1942, as reported by The history of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree by Summer Delaney, the tree was rearranged to the three colors of the flag (Red, White and Blue) in honor of the war effort. The tree remained unlit all year due to war time blackout regulations. With the war ending in 1945, the darkness was soon forgotten. As the tree’s 700 fluorescent globes were glowing, the six ultraviolet light projectors were employed. By the 1950s, it took twenty workers to decorate the tree fully in nine days. In 1951, it was the first time NBC televised the tree lighting. As the country experienced an environmental movement in 1971, the tree was recycled and it turned into 30 three bushel bags of mulch and distributed to the trails of upper Manhattan. Although in 1998, they received the royal treatment and was flown from Richfield to Ohio on the largest transport plane. As most recently in 2007, the tree lights were switched to energy saving LED in an effort to go green. The decorations are important to everyone, but ultimately the tree must be beautiful and gorgeous.