The real one will be beautiful - and I think your wife will enjoy it. Years and years ago we had our first artificial tree and when we went to take it down one of our lights had melted onto a branch. I felt that had that been a drying real tree it might have caught on fire. So I have never asked for a real tree since.
I forgot to mention, if you like the smell of pine so much you can always get some Pine Sol and scrub the floors. LOL