A ‘Cinderella story’: How this year’s White House Christmas tree came to Washington

This year's White House Christmas tree, a 19 1/2-foot-tall Fraser fir, was plucked from the North Carolina mountains but was nearly abandoned before being chosen.

Before it was presented Monday in Washington, D.C. the tree hailed from Larry Smith's tree farm in the mountains of Newland, North Carolina.

The tree nearly had a different fate, according to Smith.

“I’d basically abandoned it,” Smith told theCharlotte Observer.

However, he told the newspaper that two White House officials who chose the tree loved the “natural look” of the fir that had not been trimmed in a few years.

“It’s like a Cinderella story,” Smith added.

Smith did not respond to ABC News' request for comment.

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