HOLIDAY lovers might not know the Rockefeller Christmas tree’s life is just beginning when it’s displayed in New York City.

After the Yuletide season comes to a close and the new year dawns, pieces of the tree are transformed into lifelong gifts.

The Rockefeller tree has been a holiday staple in New York City for over 80 years, and people from all over the world come to be wowed by the massive twinkling spruce.

But tourists might not know that the festive tree’s lumber is milled and used to help build affordable homes.

Every year for almost two decades, Rockefeller Center has donated its Christmas tree to Habitat for Humanity, an affordable housing nonprofit organization.

Felicia Hanna, a pharmacy technician from Elkton, Maryland, about an hour’s drive northeast of Baltimore, is one of the lucky people to be sheltered by the lumber.

She opened up about the life-changing thrill of getting the keys to a brand new home that has such a rich history.

“It’s so special. It’s not just a Christmas tree anymore,” Hanna told the New York Post.

She added, “We watched that tree on the television in New York City, and now I have it in my home forever.”

ROCKEFELLER TREE’S ROUNDTRIP

The 2021 Rockefeller tree had grown 79 feet tall before Devon and Julie Price of Elkton decided to allow the Rockefeller Center to showcase it in their annual tree lighting.

After the holiday season, the tree was processed in a dry kiln and sawn into 48 2-inch-by-6-inch-by-8-foot beams.

Each beam was branded with “Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree 2021.”

The tree was then used to build the home that Hanna and her children would later move into and another home in Havre de Grace, Maryland, about a 30 minute drive southwest of Elkton.

The building of Hanna’s home marks the first time a Rockefeller tree was returned to the community it was grown in.

HANNA WINS HOUSING ‘LOTTERY’

Hanna said, “It felt like I won the lottery,” when her application for a Habitat for Humanity home was chosen.

Her children, Mya, 14, Nicholas, 9, and Kash, 7, are excited to show their friends the branded Rockefeller tree wood found on windowsills and in closets when they come over.

Devon Price, 63, helped hammer the wooden beams into place after the local Cecil County School of Technology built the prefabricated home.

Price told the Post, “I always look that way when I drive by.

“I always look over to see […] and if [a friend] is in town that hadn’t seen it before, I take them by and show them where the lumber went.”

‘SPECIAL’ COMMUNITY PROJECT

Hanna said the project couldn’t be done without the help of her community.

“They always tell you the community is part of Habitat, that they can’t do it without the volunteers,” Hanna said.

She added, “Honestly, the volunteers make it happen and literally a tree from the community, from Elkton is now being put in my house. Just wow.”

Price was also allowed to keep one of the branded wooden beams.

“It’s special to have something that’s special to the city of New York and to everybody else,” he said.

Price continued, “And to know it didn’t just get sent to the landfill or get burned up or get ground up into mulch, it’s pretty cool that it’s actually in a couple of other people’s homes and that it was made useful long past its pretty display in the center. That’s so special.”

The first Rockefeller tree was put up in December 1931. Workers at Rockefeller Center pooled their money to buy a 20-foot high balsam fir.

The tree was decked out with handmade garlands made by the workers’ families.