Obviously, I grew up with the notion of no Christmas Tree in our house, but since I'd been with Kathy, we've had a real tree every year, no matter how big or small.
The first year, in '98, I got a real tree for my apartment. It wasn't easy getting a small tree (about 5 feet high), beleive it or not! But the smell of a real tree is a glorious odor I can live with. Sometimes they're messy, they require gallons of water, are difficult to manuver through a car and a house door, or they even have bugs...but we put up with it.
Kathy gets a bigger kick out of it than I do, I just like to take my glasses off and stare at the blur of lights on the tree and fall asleep in the evenings. Her trouble is getting rid of the tree, she's not good about getting it out of the house until a week after the New Year. I tell her it's out of the house by January 2nd...