By TIME Photo
Updated: | Originally published: ;
![Travel Trip Christmas Trees Travel Trip Christmas Trees](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/rockefeller-center-tree-lighting-history-01.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, 1934.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/rockefeller-center-tree-lighting-history-02.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree 1936 Rockefeller Center Christmas Trees, celebrating the opening of the ice skating rink.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/rockefeller-center-tree-lighting-history-13.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![SKATING ROCKEFELLER CENTER Rockefeller Center Christmas tree 1949](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/rockefeller-center-tree-lighting-history-03.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![CHRISTMAS AT ROCKEFELLER CENTER 1955 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/rockefeller-center-tree-lighting-history-04.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Christmas at Rockefeller Center 1966 Rockefeller Center Tree Christmas](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/rockefeller-center-tree-lighting-history-05.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree 1979](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/rockefeller-center-tree-lighting-history-06.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree 1985](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/rockefeller-center-tree-lighting-history-07.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree 1991 Rockefeller Center Tree](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/rockefeller-center-tree-lighting-history-08.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Christmas Tuba Concert At Rockefeller Center Christmas 1996 Rockefeller Center Tree](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/rockefeller-center-tree-lighting-history-09.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![ROCKEFELLER CENTER TREE 2001 Rockefeller Center Christmas tree](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/rockefeller-center-tree-lighting-history-10.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Rockefeller Center Tree 2011 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/rockefeller-center-tree-lighting-history-11.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![82nd Annual Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony 2014 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/rockefeller-center-tree-lighting-history-12.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Rockefeller Center Tree The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree stands lit at Rockefeller Center during the 84th annual Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting ceremony on Nov. 30, 2016, in New York.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/rockefeller-tree.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
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