Homeowner Says Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Was 'Almost A Goner'

GARDINER, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A Norway Spruce almost met its demise before it was chosen as this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.

Last year, Albert Asendorf and his partner, Nancy Puchalski, were planning to cut down the 78-foot-tall, 10-ton tree, which has been in front of their family's Gardiner home for five decades.

"It was almost a goner," Asendorf said. "We were just going to cut it up and get rid of it somehow, use it for firewood."

"This tree doesn't know how close it came to the end?" 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck asked.

"Exactly, with no grand finale when it was gone," Asendorf said.

But instead of the wood chipper, the tree is headed to Rockefeller Center.

At the last minute, they decided to contact the Rockefeller Center people on a whim, thinking they had no chance of being selected.

"They emailed me back and said they'd let me know later on in the summer, and I didn't hear nothing, so I said, 'Well I guess they didn't pick it,'" Asendorf told WCBS 880's Paul Murnane.

But head gardener Erik Pauze later drove up and gave the tree a thumbs-up.

"This one's beautiful," Pauze said. "It had a great shape, nice branches, and when I came up and looked for it, the sun was shining right on it so it made it even more glorious."

"[He] said he liked the tree, and that's when it started," Asendorf said. "My daughter was here, and she goes 'Hey, there's some crazy guy out here taking a picture of the tree.'"

Asendorf said he's honored.

"My father came over from Germany, served in World War II, bought this property, and now he's giving back to the country a tree," Asendorf said. "We think he's up there looking down. In fact, on his gravestone he has a picture of a tree."

Puchalski said the tree is a metaphor for their family.

"So he's strong," she said of the tree. "It survived winter, wind, everything, and our family's strong the same way, too -- good times, bad times."

The tree was cut down Wednesday and put on a flatbed truck to make the nearly two-hour journey from Ulster County to Manhattan, where it will go up at Rockefeller Center on Friday.

The 83rd Rockefeller Center tree lighting ceremony will take place on Dec. 2.