Pennsylvania Provides White House Tree for Third Christmas

CBS Philly reports: “The White House takes delivery, today, of its official Christmas tree– an 18-and-a-half-foot Douglass fir from right here in Eastern Pennsylvania. This is the third time the Lehigh Valley’s Crystal Springs farm has provided the first family’s tree.”

Chris Botek is the big tree guy. Twice, his farm’s Goliaths have won the NationalChristmas Tree contest, in 2006 and 2010. Since winners have to wait four years to enter again, he shouldn’t even have been in the running to provide the White House tree this year.

But it turns out this year’s winner — from North Jersey — is not a big tree guy and the White House is really particular about size, “When they couldn’t find one big enough, they remembered me.”

That means Botek will be the rare farmer who furnished three trees in seven years.