Dec 7, 2009 4:25 PM

Who needs flying reindeer when Christmas arrives on a Mack truck? Two of the most famous Christmas trees in the nation were delivered this year by customers of Mack Trucks Inc: the Rockefeller Center tree in New York City and the US Capitol Christmas tree in Washington DC.

The Rockefeller Center tree—a 10-ton, 76-foot Norway spruce harvested in Connecticut—arrived first, hauled by a Mack Vision axle back tractor into the center of the Big Apple holiday kickoff at 8 am November 12th. The arrival was covered live on national television by NBC’s Today Show. The Mack Vision model is owned and operated by Torsilieri Inc of Gladstone NJ, and this year marks the 27th time Torsilieri has delivered the Rockefeller center tree. 

The US Capitol tree had a longer journey to make, from Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in Arizona to the foot of Capitol Hill. The 85-ft blue spruce was harvested November 7. A Mack CH axle back tractor did the honors, taking the tree on a 10-day tour of the state, then making the cross-country journey to Washington. Owned and operated by heavy-haul specialist Southwest Industrial Rigging, Phoenix AZ, the red, white, and blue Mack daycab was hard to miss. This is the first time a tree from Arizona has been selected by the US Forest Service to adorn the Capitol grounds for Christmas.