In a year where so many good things have gone virtual, here's one tradition carrying on just like normal ... the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree!!!
The 75-foot-tall Norway Spruce was chopped down Thursday and loaded onto a huge flatbed trailer in Oneonta, NY ... about 170 miles north of its Midtown Manhattan destination.
The massive tree will be erected Saturday, though the popular lighting ceremony isn't until December 1.
Rockefeller Center organizers, along with Mayor Bill de Blasio, have yet to reveal exactly how they'll deal with holiday crowds wanting to gather for the event or see the tree up close, as the city's facing another crisis with rising COVID-19 cases.
The Mayor simply says they will take extra precautions to make sure it's safe for people to visit the spectacle in person ... which he says still evokes a "childlike wonder" for him.
So, unlike the Macy's Day Parade and the NYE Ball Drop -- which are going the virtual route thanks to 2020 -- it sounds like folks can still experience the real deal when it comes to America's most famous Christmas tree.