Want to get back into Mountain Biking. My dilemma: hardtail or full suspension?

This is a situation that requires a choice between 2 options that are or seem equally unfavorable or mutually exclusive. It's been about 7 years since I stopped riding and want 2 get back into it. I'm looking 4 a new mountain bike and I'm having trouble deciding between a hardtail and a full suspension. I've never riden a full suspension and don't know waht to expect. My last bike was a hardtail with a pretty decent set of stuff on it (Al frame, Shimano LX/XT shirters, rapid fire levers, v-brakes, rock shox fork, etc). I normally like cross country, long rides on weekends, the occasional short amateur-minded race once a month, and I'm also into a bit of 'trial' style biking, nothing fancy just some bunny hops, stairs climbing or side jumping stuff to get me by. I feel like I don't want to comprimise quality of gear just for the sake of having rear suspension if it's not going to do me any good for the things I want to do. Any good advice out there??