'Tis the season: for sniffles, but before you blame the holiday gathering at grandma's for your coughing, sneezy misery, look around: chances are there's a blue blooming juniper tree nearby.

"I try to cover my nose thinking that that's going to help," said Amy Hernandez. "I'm like 'Amy, be for real.' Like, 'no, don't sniff it. Don't sniff it' because it's everywhere."

The mountain cedar, or juniper pollen, is indeed everywhere. Still, Hernandez heads to the walking trail at the Cedar Ridge Preserve in Dallas undaunted. She's determined that her new year fitness goals won't get derailed by a blue burst of pollen. She takes allergy medication daily, but a few years back, the misery caught her by surprise.

"I was very sick and congested," said Hernandez. "I was taking every medicine on the market and was not getting better. And my coworker was like, `You need to go get tested,' and I did an allergy test. And sure enough, my numbers were sky high for mountain cedar."

"So, cedar pollen is particularly potent," said Dr. Preeti Sharma, a pediatric pulmonologist with Children's Health in Dallas. "It really can cause some pretty dramatic symptoms: sneezing, watery eyes, lots of congestion, coughing. And for those that have underlying asthma, it may cause a flare-up of their asthma symptoms."

With symptoms so similar to illnesses prevalent in winter, how can you tell the difference?

Sharma said that the presence of fever suggests a viral infection, such as a cold or the flu. Otherwise, it's likely an allergy, and even those symptoms, she says, can be serious for children with underlying respiratory challenges.  

So when should parents call the doctor?

"If the symptoms are truly disruptive: your child is not sleeping at night because they are coughing, if you do see symptoms of an asthma exacerbation, they're complaining that, you know, 'it's hard to breathe, I'm coughing so hard': then it's always a good idea to seek advice from your healthcare provider," said Sharma.

Some other steps the doctor suggests to keep more of the pollen outside include shedding pollen-covered clothing and showering as soon as you come inside, keeping windows and doors closed and limiting time outside, especially on windy days.

However. If a 70-degree day in January is your siren song, Hernandez shares some home remedies as well.

"I do a lot of teas, a lot of teas and a lot of water," said Hernandez.  "It's crazy! We were born and raised here, and we have to do all these extra things, but it helps! It definitely helps."