Some Neatorama readers may remember an era when trees were decorated with real candles, and families kept a bucket of water with a mop nearby. Trees of that era were of course more freshly cut and had branching patterns less dense than today's field-pruned varieties.
Via Cynical-C.
The problem with fire in any house- with our without trees- is just that they make big fires real fast. Candles under curtains, shortcircuits in computers, tv-sets or in wires that are caught between wheels of rolling furniture- all in combination with cheap non-wool fabrics are main culprits of housefires and deaths all over the world.