MORRISVILLE, Vt. -
Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin is getting his office in the holiday spirit by cutting down a couple of Christmas trees and bringing them to the capitol.
Wednesday he visited Paine's Christmas Trees in Morrisville Vermont where he had his choice of 8-foot (that's what fits in his office lobby) Fraser firs. Paine's has been growing Christmas Trees since the 60's and Thomas Paine took over for his father in the 80's. But this is the first time a Vermont governor has picked a tree from his farm.
"Yeah it does make me feel good. That's for sure," Paine said.
Paine's farm was recommended to the governor by the Vermont Christmas Tree Association. He used to sell trees wholesale, thousands at a time, before he switched to "choose and cut" where each person gets to walk through the field and pick out their own tree.
And escorting Governor Shumlin on his journey to pick a pair of beautiful trees was Thomas's son, Ben. Ben drives the tractor around the farm, helps cut trees down but told me he really hopes his teacher and classmates are watching the news Wednesday night to see his dad's farm.
Ben says that one day he'll take over the Paine family business.
"I'm going to try and extend it and make it even awesome," Ben Paine said.
Governor Shumlin endorsed the idea.
"He's gonna do a great job. You watched him go after that tree with that saw," Gov. Shumlin said.
"He knows how to pick him. He picked both these trees. I figure he has better training than I do."
And Ben did pick some beautiful trees. Both of them were transported to the Pavilion in Montpelier where people started decorating them within the hour.
But for Ben the best part takes place on the Paine farm.
"Customers are really fun, they get to cut down trees. What's not fun about it?" Ben said.
