it's officially wintertime at the state capitol and just like every year, the State Office of General Services celebrates the festive time with winter traditions from the Capitol Christmas tree to the Empire State Plaza Skating Rink.

In this next segment, our Elise Klein took a day trip to learn all about those winter activities and their reception from visitors.

Here's that story.

- For many years the New York State Capitol has held a variety of holiday winter traditions.

Today we're going to walk through all of this year's festivities.

One of the biggest attractions each year is the Capitol Christmas trees.

Two trees are selected to shine holiday spirit in front of the capitol.

One is located on the Empire State Plaza and the other is located in East Capitol Park.

The Empire Plaza Tree this year was donated by the Morehouse family from Ballston Spa.

The now nearly 35 foot spruce tree has been growing in front of Paul and Jackie Morehouse's home since they moved in about 10 years ago.

- Oh, it just gets bigger each year goes a little bit, goes a little bit.

On the day, the state Office of General Services and the Department of Transportation workers came to retrieve the tree, Jackie says she was feeling emotional.

- It's almost like losing a child.

It's someone I nurtured.

I nurtured that tree.

I would make sure it got fertilizer, fed, water, trimmed.

The snow would fall on it and the the branches would droop and I would take the snow off it so it would come back to life.

Jackie says it was time for them to move on as the tree was beginning to block their driveway.

- What better way than to donate it instead of just chipping it up?

That would be, it would hurt.

It's emotional either way, but it's going somewhere now where everyone can enjoy it and it'll have its last hurrah lit up and people ice skating and having fun.

- OGS and DOT workers spent at least two hours removing the tree from the Morehouse's yard.

They removed branches, sawed the trunk, and attached a crane at the top of the tree.

After they lifted the tree and placed it onto a flatbed truck, they tied it down and covered it up for its drive to the Capitol.

While the Morehouse family was sad to see their beloved tree go, they were mesmerized by the process.

- It was pretty awesome.

It just, well, they cut it, it just broke loose and then like, it just floated, floated away.

It was different.

I never saw anything like that.

Jackie added, it still looked beautiful even after it was cut down and laid on the truck.

The second holiday tree that was placed in front of the Capitol in East Capitol Park was donated this year by the Pino family.

The estimated 40 foot tree began its journey at Tony and Kimberly Pino's home about 24 years ago.

It was only about five feet tall.

Kimberly says many family memories over the years have been shared in front of their tree.

- Pictures were taken in front of it.

Dance recital pictures, you know, any holidays.

Halloween, used to decorate it all the time.

So it's gonna feel weird not having it here, but we're gonna do another one.

The pine spruce tree also has another special meaning to the Pinos.

- Whether it's our name, it represents pine in Italian and the tree, the pine itself represents eternal life.

And so it's part of us and really honored and happy to see it have a great sendoff.

Kimberly says she has many emotions about watching their family tree leave their home.

- It's emotional, it's happy.

I'm sad.

It's a lot of good things, but it's going to a great place.

The Pinos donated the tree because it was getting too close to their house.

They watched the tree be removed by an OGS and DOT crew and after the tree was tied down on a flatbed truck, they were given a piece of the tree to keep its memory alive.

The Pinos also intend to visit the tree as a family on Christmas Eve.

About an hour or so after taking it down, the crew arrived at the state capitol.

They trimmed it down and attached the crane to then carefully place it in its designated spot in East Capitol Park.

But these aren't the only Capital holiday trees.

Another tradition at the Capitol each year includes a tree displayed inside the capitol, decorated with ornaments from all 62 counties in the state.

OGS Commissioner Jeanette Moy says the ornaments are new each year.

- We're pleased to have an opportunity to not just have you know the tree that's outside, but also the tree that's in here alongside a Kwanza kinara, a menorah, just to make sure that we're showing all of New York's incredible traditions for the holiday season.

- Moy says her favorite ornament as a native resident, born and raised is Queens.

Before the tree is lit up for the first time, the Empire Plaza hosts a variety of winter day traditions, including ice sculpting, figure skating and musical performances.

There's a lot to check out here, but we're going to start with ice sculptures.

Stanley Kolonko, owner of Ice Farm and a four-time World Ice art champion has worked with ice since 1989 at the Culinary Institute of America.

- I really liked it, but I did the chef scene for a long time.

I did ice carvings when I could.

I started competing in Canada.

In the mid-90's, I got hooked on the ice sculpting then and really started to grow my business.

Kolonko started his business in 2008 and has been sculpting ice on the plaza for about five years.

He says carving ice on the plaza is a great way to share his art with the community.

- It's quick results.

I carve quite fast.

You get a a really neat result really fast.

It's great.

I love the people, I love the crowds.

The children are always wowed by it, you know, it's just fun.

Kolonko adds ice is also an environmentally friendly medium.

- Is it's completely green.

You make it, it melts, goes back to Mother Earth, comes back and we do it again.

The process of carving his sculptures, he says, starts with a very important step.

- First of all, starts out with the ice block.

We have to, we manufacture our own ice when it's just specifically created ice, which is slowly frozen with in motion at the same time.

So you have to have the ice in motion.

It has to be under, we use a circulating pump.

So we start the ice in a tank.

Once it starts to freeze, it creates a seed.

We turn on the pump and let it grow for three days and it comes out a crystal clear block.

Kolonko says, once has the ice he brings in the design.

- Of course, I always start with some kind of a drawing or a template or an idea and I blow that up to the size I want it.

Trace that onto the ice and then just remove whatever it doesn't belong.

- This year Kolonko sculpted a reindeer, a snowman, and two doves.

Now that we've seen how ice can be conquered into art, let's see if I can conquer the ice myself.

I started out with the help of an OGS worker to get to the wall for support.

I stuck to the walls as I made my way around the rink, but I was able to gain the confidence to let go and glide by myself for at least a few seconds.

On my way back to the wall, I unfortunately lost my balance, but I got back up and finished my full lap around the rink.

Well that was quite an adventure.

I think I'm definitely more coordinated on land.

Our next stop is music.

There are a variety of performances here, including a tuba ensemble and holiday carolers.

The Rusty Pipes in acapella group from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute or RPI brought a repertoire of holiday songs to sing on the plaza.

Nicole Narvaez, an undergrad student at RPI says they have been performing on the plaza for three years.

- It's a really fun tradition.

We enjoy singing around Albany.

It's fun to be with our community.

Narvaez who has been around music for most of her life, says she's glad she can continue making music with other people.

- It's the most fun to make music with other people because your creativity alone is, it's fun, but once other people start building off of what you have already have, it's unbelievable what people can do together.

Narvaez added the tight knit group offer support in her challenging biomedical engineering major.

- RPI is a, a very rigorous school.

Without the Rusty Pipes, it would, it would be some dark times, it would be some hard times studying and getting through classes.

With these guys, I know they always have my back and I know I always have music with them and I just, it's a blessing to have them, yeah.

Max Rueda, the music director of the Rusty Pipes, says the group's close friendships have made them better performers.

- So it's not just a benefit, it's, yeah, we depend on each other.

If one of us is out sick or one of us is missing, things start to fall a little bit sideways.

We still make up for it, but we really do depend on each other and we really do rely on each other's talent, each other's voices, each other's participation and presence.

Rueda says it's been a privilege for him to lead his musical team through performances like this year's caroling gig and to spend time with music, something he loves dearly.

- Why I love music is probably because of its ability to carry a message in such a unique way.

That is, that is almost, it transcends speech.

The Rusty Pipes weren't the only ones to share their talents on the plaza.

Following a performance by Tuba Christmas, skaters with the Hudson Mohawk Figure Skating Club spun, jumped and twirled around the rink with grace, wowing crowds of people watching their performance.

12-year-old Kaitlyn Lascala, who has been skating for five years, spent a lot of time and practice hard on her routine, but it was all worth it to perform.

- I love like making people happy when they see me skate and I just like being on the ice.

Lascala performed a solo and a group routine along with her fellow Hudson Mohawk figure skating club skaters.

11-year-old Kylie Davis, who also performed a solo and a group routine says performing for her is fun and freeing.

You get to like just skate around and be free and stuff.

Kind of like a bird if you think about it, 'cause it gets a glide around, it's fun.

14-year-old Sophia Brothers says they prepared for a few weeks to perform on the plaza.

- I train a lot and very hard.

I also do a lot of off ice to help me prepare, especially with some ballet movements.

Some skaters, such as 15-year-old Vanessa Coleman say they typically practice and train five days a week.

- We run the program multiple times a night and just working on performing and making it look entertaining.

Coleman says she has been performing this Christmas show for a few years now.

She loves performing this special, but her love for skating overall goes back as far as she can remember.

- I have been around the ice my entire life since my mom is a figure skating coach and my dad played hockey.

Coleman says skating keeps her on her toes.

- I love skating because there's always new tricks and elements to learn and like there's always new challenges.

And for many of the Hudson Mohawk Figure Skating Club skaters, their passion will lead them beyond holiday performances on the plaza.

- I just hope to like get far and be able to keep performing for people and everything.

When the winter activities came to an end, the Empire Plaza tree was ready for the grand finale, the Annual Tree Lighting.

Commissioner Moy counted the plaza down as the crowd joined in and the tree lit up for the first time.

The crowd cheered with excitement as fireworks then lit up the sky.

- It was a really wonderful night, you know, it was perfect temperature.

Moy, who has served as OGS Commissioner for three years says the winter traditions on the Plaza are some of her all time favorite events.

- It's where two of my kids really learned how to skate, was right here at the plaza out with those sleds.

- The holiday fun isn't quite over yet.

While the trees will only be up for another week or so, the Empire Plaza Rink will be open through the winter season until March.

So grab some skates while you can.

Elise Kline, "New York Now".

- And for more information on the winter traditions at the Capitol, you can visit our website.

Again, that's at nynow.org.