OCOEE, Tenn. -- Macy's may be one of the most recognizable names in retail, but Larry Rymer knows little about the department store and has never shopped in one of the retailer's eight Atlanta locations.

"I've seen some of their commercials on TV, and it seems pretty expensive," Rymer said. "We mostly shop at Walmart."

So Rymer and his wife, Kathryn, weren't quite sure what to think when a man came to their house two months ago asking to buy a large white pine tree on their property that he said would adorn the top of the Macy's at Lenox Square.

"They put a note on our fence and called for probably a month, but I never recognized the phone number, so I didn't answer," Kathryn Rymer said. "But eventually they left a message and wanted to meet in person."

After talking things over with a Macy's representative, the Rymers decided they'd be honored to have their tree used as a part of the holiday celebration. The tree at the corner of their front yard was planted decades ago by a previous owner of the property, according to Larry Rymer.

Once in place atop the Macy's at Lenox, the tree will be a focal point for a Thanksgiving Day gala that features big-name entertainers and a massive fireworks show.

It's such a big part of the city's holiday season, Atlanta TV stations routinely follow the tree by helicopter as it is brought to the city.

"We get a trip to Atlanta, we're gonna be on TV, and I thought, 'Golly, why not?'" Larry Rymer said.

The $1,000 the retailer paid for the tree was a nice incentive, too, he said.

On Wednesday, a crew carefully tied back all of the tree's massive limbs. On Thursday, workers cut and lifted the 65-foot, 12,000-pound Georgia white pine onto a large tractor-trailer as a crowd of locals watched from U.S. Highway 411 in front of the Rymers' home.

Before the planning and careful prep work was more than a decade of careful tree scouting all over the region.

Steve and Wilbur Guy operate Entertainment Design Group Inc., the company hired to put on the Macy's show in Atlanta. They look for trees all over the region just for Macy's.

"We probably have 10 or 12 possible trees we could use," Wilbur Guy said. "But my son has a cabin in Pigeon Forge, so we drive by this one all the time."

There was something special about the size and shape of the Rymers' tree, Steve Guy said.

"I've kept my eye on this tree for the last 12 years, looking for just the right time to cut it and use it in Atlanta," he said.

The Guys typically line up a few live trees for each year's celebration on the off chance that one is badly damaged while being cut or transported. Thursday's felling of the Rymers' tree went off without a hitch, though.

The tree will arrive in Atlanta on Sunday, then crews will spend two weeks decorating it with 4,000 11-watt bulbs and ornaments no smaller than a basketball, Steve Guy said. Roughly 100,000 people are expected to attend the tree lighting, where singers Katherine McPhee, Chuck Wicks and Bobby V. will perform.

In Atlanta, the Macy's tree lighting is a holiday tradition, said Susan Cagle, of Woodstock, Ga., who donated the tree for the 2007 ceremony. The celebration has been going on for 63 years.

"It's just a huge tradition for a lot of families," said Cagle, who drove a little less than two hours Thursday to watch the Rymers' tree be cut down. "It's just an exciting thing to be a part of. It's one of the biggest events of the Christmas season."

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