Aren’t we supposed to be “rockin” around the tree? Not if seasonal sneezing has you itchin’ and scratchin.’ Your favorite holiday decoration, the Christmas tree, may be the reason behind your allergies. Christmas trees can trigger itchy noses, scratchy eyes, and sneezing, say allergist Michael Alexander, MD, of Niagara Falls, Ontario.

After tracking the symptoms of a group of allergy sufferers over the holiday season, it seemed symptoms started to rise when the Christmas tree entered the home. And they subsided when the Christmas tree went away. Tests of the trees showed they are a source of mold spores, with air tests detecting spores in rooms with the trees.

So was Santa’s "nose like a cherry," as described in The Night Before Christmas, because of an allergic reaction to the many Christmas trees he visited, or was he simply red-nosed from the cold winter air? Ahhh, we’ll never know.