 I'm Kurt Topper, Secretary of General Services for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and it's my pleasure to welcome you all to the 2016 Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony. What a remarkable year it's been here in Harrisburg and across this great country. As we enter this holiday season, I hope you'll join me in accepting the season's invitation to seek the very best in ourselves and to see the best in each other. Earlier this week, our employees at DGS joined employees from other agencies of the Commonwealth to participate in the Holiday Wish program and to make the holidays a little brighter for local families who are less fortunate. It's an annual source of inspiration for us all, proof that we can bring people together for a common cause, compassion, generosity, and goodwill to our fellow men, women, and families in need. And it is exciting to see everyone here united and gathered for another cause to celebrate this wonderful tradition that officially kicks off the holiday season here in our state capital. Each year the Christmas tree is put up, decorated, and lit to serve as a reminder of the Christmas spirit for everyone who passes by. And hopefully it will help everyone who visits or works in the capital get into the spirit of the holidays. I'd like to recognize the hard work and dedication of the DGS maintenance staff. Every year the capital complex goes through a dazzling transformation creating the festive atmosphere that you see around you throughout. These dedicated men and women make it all happen. Let's please show them our appreciation with a quick round of applause. Now please allow me to introduce our guests, Governor Tom Wolf and First Lady Frances. The Reverend David Lovelace of St. John Episcopal Church and his wife Dr. Elaine Lovelace. Providing our musical entertainment today will be the West Hanover Elementary School Second Grade Chorus. That's under the direction of Mr. Todd Bowden. Next, please rise if you're able while the Pennsylvania Capitol Police ceremonial unit posts the colors. Now for invocation, the Reverend David Lovelace. Let us pray. Eternal God, during this joyful time of the year for people of all faiths, we give you thanks for the true light that illumines our hearts and guides our lives. May love, hope, joy and peace represented by this holy season become part of what we say and what we do throughout each day of our lives. Help us to close the door to hatred and violence all over the world. Guide us to overcome the sad divisions that separate us from one another. Let kindness come with every expression of compassion and good wishes with every greeting. Holy Creator, bless this tree with your abundant grace as a symbol of love, justice and peace. May its evergreen branches be a reminder of your never-fading presence in our lives. And may the lights and decorations be a reminder of your light that guides us on our path. May Almighty God bless us with grace as we celebrate this holy season. May we rejoice in the hope of light that overcomes darkness and fills our lives with joy. May we join together with people of all faiths to share divine love in this world. We pray. Amen. Thank you, Reverend Lovelace. Please be seated. This year in the state capitol, we have three beautiful Douglas furs gracing the main rotunda, the capitol steps and soldiers grove. They're Pennsylvania grown trees and they come from Crystal Spring Tree Farm in Lehighton Carbon County. Before we throw the switch and light the tree, we have a long tradition of hearing from our governor on his thoughts for this holiday season. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the honorable Tom Wolf, governor of Pennsylvania. Thanks, Kurt. If he wasn't going to ask you to sit down, I was. I just want you to know that. So, Merry Christmas everybody. This is a really, really special day and there are three things I want to talk about. First thing is the magnificent tree behind us. And as Secretary Topper pointed out, this is a 22 foot Douglas fir from the Crystal Spring Tree Farm in Carbon County. And in fact, all the trees but one that are used throughout the capitol complex come from that tree farm. One of them, which is the Children's Tree at the governor's residence comes from Levan's or Levin's, did I pronounce that right? Christmas Tree Farm in Pine Grove. And there are 300, more than 300 decorations on the tree and that comes from senior centers all over the world. So, if nothing else, the first thing that we really ought to pay tribute to is the magnificence of the trees. That's the first thing. But there are two other things. The second thing is for a lot of us here, speaking for myself, trees like this brings back all kinds of memories. I mean, this is a time of year that is magic. It's not just special, it's magic for all of us. Yes, I was once your age. I know, see the stunned look on your faces. I was once your age and this tree was magic. I remember waking up and just hoping and thinking about what was coming, the promise of Christmas in terms of, do you still get presents? Are you going to get presents? I still think about that and remember that and the special presents. I remember the special holiday, the spirit, the presents that we, my wife and I gave to our daughters at Christmas time. And we're still looking forward to that again this Christmas. That was special. But the most special thing about Christmas is the time of year and the spirit. There's just something about this time of year that brings us all together. This is about love, it's about hope. In an age where we talk too much about things that divide us, this is something that brings so many of us together, families, friends. It's a time of hope and it's one, it's an island in a time of distrust, an island of time, an era when we're just as likely to poke holes at each other and make all kinds of arguments. This is just one of those times where we sit down and say, we really want to have fellowship. We want to be together and the spirit of this season is really precious for that reason. So this tree is magnificent in and of itself. It's a great example of the Douglas fir right from Pennsylvania. It's a great example of what people can do to make that tree look beautiful. It's a symbol of second what we can do to help each other and give gifts, those wonderful dreams that we had throughout our lives, but most of all it's a time when we can thank God that we have each other. We have all the things to be thankful for and the great fellowship and spirit of this season. So I want to wish all of you a merry, merry Christmas. Thank you very much. Now for the fun part, I get to light this tree and I hope you will bear with me. This is only the second time I've done this and I'm going to work with Secretary Topper to make sure I do it right, but this is really going to be fun. So get your cameras out. Okay, you ready? Down from five. You ready? Five, four, three, two, one. I thought I'd mention that for the ninth year now our trees are lit with energy saving LED bulbs, all part of our larger effort to reduce energy consumption in state buildings. These lights consume 90% less energy than standard bulbs. Before we close, I'd like to thank just a few more people, including our guests, our special guests here today, members of the many senior community centers across Pennsylvania who handcrafted more than 500 ornaments for this year's tree. Their fine handy work was coordinated by Secretary Teresa Osborn and her staff at the Pennsylvania Department of Aging. Thanks, Chris. I'd like to thank the West Hanover Elementary School second grade chorus for their great work. The Pennsylvania Capitol Police Ceremony Unit and all of you gathered here today for taking the time out to share this special event with us. Our beautiful rotunda tree will be lit from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. The Capitol steps and soldiers' grove trees will be lit daily from 5 p.m. until midnight and all of our trees will shine through the week of January 9. Now if you're able, please rise for the retiring of the colors and for our benediction, Reverend Lovelace. Let us pray. As we depart this place with grateful hearts, may the sun bring us renewed energy and hope by day. May the moon restore us during the night and may the rains wash away our worries. May we walk gently through this world with a reverence for God by whatever name we address the Almighty. May our hearts be gladdened during this holy season and may we find peace in our lives. May the God of this holy season lighten our hearts and abide with each of us today and always. Amen. That's the end of our program. However, everyone is now invited to join the West Hanover Elementary School second grade chorus for some Christmas caroling. Lyrics to the carols are in your programs and for those of you who are interested, Santa Claus will be available for pictures as well. Thanks again for attending. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.