Think of it as a return to the days of Mitch Miller and the Christmas variety shows of video Christmases past.

Or, if you're too young for that, just think of it as holiday-flavored karaoke, but without Christina, Mariah, Justin or the guys from Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Actually, when Joe Wheeler Jr. and his family had the idea for "Santa's Sing-a-Long!" their new holiday DVD and CD, the idea wasn't very complicated: Give kids and families the chance to learn some classic Christmas songs -- and one new one, too -- and, maybe, help them start a new family musical tradition.

"Santa's Sing-a-Long!" is the first production of Magic Tree Inc., a production company made up of Wheeler, his mom, Caryn, his dad, Joseph J. Wheeler, and his sister, Jennifer. Their production's simple but charming premise: Santa and a few elves take a break from their yuletide labors to sing a few songs and meet a few friends.

But here's the twist: Thanks to lyrics appearing at the bottom of the screen, kids and parents can sing along, too.

Wheeler, 22, graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with a theater degree in May. According to Wheeler, it was meeting J.D. St. Ives, an actor and full-time, year-round Santa who portrays the big guy in "Santa's Sing-A-Long," that gave Wheeler and his family the idea for the project.

"We love Christmas and the holidays," Wheeler says, and when they saw St. Ives and discovered that he has a fine singing voice, too, "we thought we should do something with this guy."

What they decided to do was create a new, locally produced addition to the holiday video canon. In addition to St. Ives and his wife, Kitty, who play Santa and Mrs. Claus, the cast includes four singing and dancing elves -- played by Brittany Maloney, Taryn Earl, Brendyn Bell and Alexis Fitting -- and such new characters as "Snowy the Stand-up Comedian Snowman" and a Christmas angel played by harpist Kathy Kavanaugh.

The cast and crew, along with director Paul A. Folger of Inov8 Productions Inc., taped the DVD a year ago, and post-production was completed this year. The DVD and CD are now available exclusively through the company's Web site (www.santasingalong.com), which also features video and audio excerpts from the DVD. Kids also can sign up on the site to receive regular e-mails from Santa.

Wheeler says many of the people who saw the DVD during a premiere party two weeks ago "said it really reminded (them) of that old-time stuff, like the Judy Garland or Andy Williams Christmas shows."

Wheeler, though, likens the production to "some of the newer Disney stuff."

The DVD also features a segment in which Kitty St. Ives reads "The Night Before Christmas," supplemented by illustrations that were created for the production.

"I actually grew up listening to that story," Wheeler says. "My grandmother read it or my mom read it. So it's only fitting to put it in something like this."

Throughout the show, Santa also offers historical lore about Christmas or explains what a song's lyrics -- "bells on bobtail ring," for instance -- mean.

Kids and parents even can learn tie tricky second verses -- or, in the case of "O Christmas Tree," the widely unknown rest of the first verse -- to some already familiar classics.

Even with as familiar a tune as "Deck the Halls," Wheeler notes, "nobody knows that second verse."

Wheeler says he has no idea how the DVD and CD will sell. From the start, he says, the goal was simply to share some of the magic of Christmas.

"Christmas was a tradition around our family," he says, and when the opportunity to produce a Christmas-themed DVD came along, "it was kind of fitting."

The ultimate, Wheeler says, "would be if 'Santa's Sing-a-long!' fit in with some sort of holiday tradition, where every holiday season the family pulls (the DVD) out and sits around singing it."

"I think people love the fact that it brings a sense of traditional values, a sense of Christmas and kind of a homey feeling. I think we've been getting a lot of positive (response) just solely on the fact that it is available, that something like this is out there."