Fake.  Anything to save money and get the damn holiday season over and done with that much quicker.

Quoted: I buy a small evergreen in a pot and then plant it outside after Christmas. I hate fake trees.

The Monterey Pine I planted 2 Christmas's ago is about 10Ft tall now. Going to get another this year also...

Quoted: Quoted: Anybody have humping deer (wire with lights wrapped around them) in their yard. its kinda like a family tradition to go around town and make as many hump as you can. www.funnyhub.com/pictures/img/humping-lawn-reindeer.jpg Two bucks?  You're makeing those poor deer gay!

Girl Reindeer have antlers also...

I take my wife and kids up to the USFS cutting area and we cut our own every year, $10 permit. Part of the holiday experience for us.

Real!  Nothing is more Christmas to me than the smell of a real Christmas tree!

Quoted: I take my wife and kids up to the USFS cutting area and we cut our own every year, $10 permit. Part of the holiday experience for us.

Where can I find out more info about cutting a Christmas tree in a USFS park?

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Real tree, and with real candles. (None of this new-fangled electric crap! ) You are one brave dude. I'm into tradition and all but damn. When I was growing up, we ALWAYS had real candles on the tree, and while we always had a bucket of water handy, we never caught a tree on fire.  (In retrospect, a good fire extinguisher would probably have been better - given how well pine/spruce burns ). I'll try to remember to post a picture after Christmas this year (and hopefully not one like Penguin_101 posted). I do have to admit that one Christmas in the army, a tree with candles did catch fire in the sergeant's mess.  But, to be fair, it was because one of the other sergeants knocked it over while drunk.

Good luck with the bucket of water!!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_eHBqVYa8A

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Real tree, and with real candles. (None of this new-fangled electric crap! ) You are one brave dude. I'm into tradition and all but damn. When I was growing up, we ALWAYS had real candles on the tree, and while we always had a bucket of water handy, we never caught a tree on fire.  (In retrospect, a good fire extinguisher would probably have been better - given how well pine/spruce burns ). I'll try to remember to post a picture after Christmas this year (and hopefully not one like Penguin_101 posted). I do have to admit that one Christmas in the army, a tree with candles did catch fire in the sergeant's mess.  But, to be fair, it was because one of the other sergeants knocked it over while drunk. Good luck with the bucket of water!! www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_eHBqVYa8A

 Good thing I have multiple fire-extinguishers in the house (that I will keep handy when the tree is lit)

Keep in mind that in Denmark (at least when I was a kid), you traditionally pick up your fresh tree a day or two before Christmas, and only have the candles lit on Christmas eve.  So the SUPER-DRY trees that you end up with by having your tree in the house for two or three weeks was less common.

I'm actually thinking of cutting down one of my own Norway spruces this year (that I planted a number of years ago) - and have a super-"fresh" homegrown tree.  It might be the last Christmas I spend in this house, and I might as well take advantage of some of the nice spruces in my yard.

Quoted: My real tree is in the front yard decorated, i have a fake in the house, iv'e been a fireman over 10 years and there are at least 5 fires enery year due to drying trees and cheap ass 6 ft. extension cords. Plus electrical heaters.

+1 The real tree is outdoors and no need to cut it down. And inside we do have a fake tree. I know it isn't as good but it is safer, cheaper and doesn't waste a tree.

The massive electrical rewiring job I'm just finishing includes receptacles specifically placed in an ideal location for plugging in Christmas tree lights.

DAMN STRAIGHT I'm going to get a real one this year.

Quoted: Quoted: I take my wife and kids up to the USFS cutting area and we cut our own every year, $10 permit. Part of the holiday experience for us. Where can I find out more info about cutting a Christmas tree in a USFS park?

Check with the Ranger District in your area to see if they offer it. For example this is where I cut my tree every year. Canyon  Lakes District

Also I have a receipt for the water to feed a tree that makes it soak up so much water it makes it less susceptible to fire.

Basically it is
water
Karo corn syrup
chelated iron
Epsom salt
and bleach