{"id":21896,"date":"2025-11-11T14:34:31","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T19:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=21896"},"modified":"2025-11-11T14:34:31","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T19:34:31","slug":"widow-donates-this-years-rockefeller-center-christmas-tree-in-late-husbands-honor-he-would-have-loved-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/11\/widow-donates-this-years-rockefeller-center-christmas-tree-in-late-husbands-honor-he-would-have-loved-this.html","title":{"rendered":"Widow Donates This Year&#8217;s Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in Late Husband\u2019s Honor: &#8216;He Would Have Loved This&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_21905\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21905\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2025\/11\/NYC-Tree_credit-Pictures-of-New-York-YouTube.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-21905\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2025\/11\/NYC-Tree_credit-Pictures-of-New-York-YouTube.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-21905\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pictures of New York \/ YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It\u2019s the most wonderful time of the year \u2014 and this season, the iconic Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree carries a story of love, loss, and legacy.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s towering Norway spruce hails from East Greenbush, New York, and comes with deep roots in one family\u2019s history. Donated by Judy Russ, the tree stands as a tribute to her late husband, Dan, who passed away in 2020 at just 32 years old. \u201cAs my husband has passed away, I know he would have loved to have been here for this moment,\u201d Russ told NBC\u2019s <i>Today<\/i> show. \u201cWe always talked about it being the Rockefeller Center tree. It\u2019s so special that my family\u2019s tree gets to be America\u2019s, if not the world\u2019s, Christmas tree.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"border: none; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/video.php?height=476&amp;href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Freel%2F1128501892772488%2F&amp;show_text=false&amp;width=267&amp;t=0\" width=\"267\" height=\"476\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Dan\u2019s family planted the sprawling spruce roughly 75 years ago on their farmland in Rensselaer County. It grew alongside generations of family memories, eventually serving as a backdrop for holidays, photos, and even playtime for the couple\u2019s son, Liam. \u201cHe used it as his own personal jungle gym,\u201d Judy said, smiling. Her husband used to joke that it would take a crane to decorate the massive tree for Christmas \u2014 a dream that, remarkably, has now come true.<\/p>\n<p>Judy said the idea of donating the tree began to take shape after she and Liam visited last year\u2019s Rockefeller tree, a 74-foot spruce from Massachusetts. Inspired by the magic of seeing it in person, she decided to make their family\u2019s longtime dream a reality. In July, she officially submitted their East Greenbush tree for consideration and even leveraged family connections to get a photo directly to the head gardener at Rockefeller Center, Erik Pauze. The tree was cut down on Thursday and will stand tall in Manhattan starting this weekend, just in time for the annual lighting ceremony on December 3.<\/p>\n<p>For Judy, the entire experience has been both joyful and emotional. \u201cWell, I cry at home in my living room when the tree is lit, so I\u2019m probably going to be inconsolable that day, but it\u2019s going to be great,\u201d she said. As tens of thousands gather to see the famous tree illuminated with 50,000 sparkling lights, Judy says she\u2019ll be thinking of her husband and the love they shared. \u201cSpread joy, spread cheer, love one another,\u201d she added. \u201cThink of our family, think of my husband, think of us. We\u2019re just happy to share it with everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s Rockefeller Center tree may be dazzling in size and beauty, but it\u2019s the story behind it \u2014 a husband\u2019s dream fulfilled, a wife\u2019s devotion, and a family\u2019s enduring love \u2014 that makes it shine the brightest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s the most wonderful time of the year \u2014 and this season, the iconic Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree carries a story of love, loss, and legacy. This year\u2019s towering Norway spruce hails from East Greenbush, New York, and comes with deep roots in one family\u2019s history. Donated by Judy Russ, the tree stands as a&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":462,"featured_media":21905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiring-messages"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Widow Donates This Year&#039;s Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in Late Husband\u2019s Honor: &#039;He Would Have Loved This&#039;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Widow Judy Russ fulfills her late husband\u2019s dream by donating their family spruce as this year\u2019s Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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