Laura Allison’s mom relishes holiday traditions: baking Christmas cookies, wrapping presents, decorating the tree. These tasks are important to Allison’s mom. But Allison isn’t as enthralled.

“I like the days off from work and school, but my mom makes the holidays a chore,” Allison says. “There’s usually something that has to be baked or decorated.”

Trudging through the holidays — and enduring the eccentricities of relatives — can be tough.

But it doesn’t have to be so taxing. There are ways to skirt the stresses associated with the season, according to Patricia Roach Smith, chief operations officer at Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center.

“People often share the holidays with people they don’t normally spend a lot of time with,” Roach Smith says. “That can be difficult, and it’s important to keep expectations low.”

That’s what Kansas University student Matt Mendoza tries to do. He has trouble sustaining conversations with relatives — searching for shared topics of interest is a laborious task. And spending time with certain relatives is a more daunting one.

“There’s one of my uncles, he’s really surly,” Mendoza says. “He’s 40 and still lives with my grandma.”

Having high expectations for holiday get-togethers can often end in disappointment. But so can clinging to tired traditions. For some, traditions trigger depression. Since her mom died years ago, Rebecca McGary slips into sadness when she hears Christmas music or sees decorated trees.

“Holidays as a kid were awesome. All of the family got together. … It was so much fun,” McGary says. “Now it’s depressing. I would love to be able to buy my mom something for Christmas — to see her face when she opened it.”

Holidays can be hard after losing a family member or introducing a new one, Roach Smith says. Infusing new celebrations into old routines can restore holiday joy. One way to mix it up is to celebrate on a different day. People with children from other marriages can weave in an early dinner or party if the family will be divided during Christmas.

“Nontraditional celebrations might be a bit different, but they are still meaningful,” Roach Smith says.