I love the smell of a real tree, but I'd prefer to have a fake one, for ecological reasons, and to avoid the mess the real ones make. So I just go to my friend's house and smell her tree! :)
I miss the smell of a real Christmas tree but you can't find a good live tree in this area of Tennessee. I don't know why but they just aren't available. I used to get douglas firs because they lasted a long time. Now that I have a fake tree it is nice to put it up around Thanksgiving and not worry about it being a fire hazard by Christmas. I have a really tall one and it looks real and I don't have to water it. I do have to manufacture the pine smell by burning candles all the time so eventually I will probably burn the house down trying to make the safe (fake) tree smell like a real one.
I LOVE real Christmas trees. I love the smell and the look of them but I don't like the maintenance they require. We had one the first year we moved into our house and every year after that we have had our fake tree. They are so much easier and still pretty plus you don't have to worry about disposing of them.
I can't stand the smell of real trees. LOL I'm odd, I know. Also, we had one once, it ruined all of our ornaments. It was a MESS! We barely had it a week and it was dead, dried out, and ruined everything on it.
Nothing beats the smell of a real tree but the hassles have outweighed the benefits in recent years. Especially with a couple of dogs that will eat the needles and later throw up from doing so, I'll stick with the fake tree I bought at Target for 90% off a few years back. I love being cheap!