"Plaid Tidings," the holiday version of "Forever Plaid," closes Thursday for the National Finals Rodeo before returning to the Gold Coast from Dec. 12-31. Photo by Isaac Brekken/Review-Journal

Frank Scinta doesn't get too nostalgic for a white Christmas.

"If I want to see snow, I can just look up at Mount Charleston from my swimming pool," says the singer who is one-fourth of the Scintas, the singing family that grew up dealing with hard-core winter in Buffalo, N.Y.

"I have to admit, there's nothing like waking up as a kid to a white Christmas," he adds. "It's all the white days that followed until May."

The Scintas will try to bring the spirit without the snow when their usual Sahara show switches into a Christmas-themed holiday edition on Dec. 11. "There's not many headliner acts left in town," Frank says, and it's "a beautiful opportunity to reach out to locals" as well as tourists.

And besides, "I'm relatively sure 'Ka' is not doing a Christmas special."

Rest assured. But this weekend does usher in some strong choices on a Strip that runs hot and cold on Christmas-themed entertainment.

HEADLINERS AND CONCERTS

Anne Murray launches her annual Christmas tour with today's concert at the Star of the Desert arena at Buffalo Bill's in Primm. On her Web site, she says her 1979 song "Wintery Feeling" is in the Top 10 of her recorded favorites. But "O Holy Night" is her favorite Christmas carol.

Johnny Mathis isn't billing this weekend's turn at the Las Vegas Hilton as an official Christmas show, as he did last year. But he'll likely touch down on his new "50th Anniversary Christmas Celebration" disc today and Saturday.

Brenda Lee, who had the original 1960 hit of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," visits the Star of the Desert arena on Dec. 16.

It's doubtful Brad Paisley would ignore his new album, "A Brad Paisley Christmas," at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on Thursday. The album includes several originals, including the first song he ever wrote, "Born on Christmas Day." The song is "a bit of a duet with the younger me," he explained in May, starting with a childhood recording and then fading to his adult self.

"You just hear that little kid with so much hope in his voice."

"PLAID TIDINGS"

The first local show out of the gate was the holiday wrapping of "Forever Plaid." The musical needed the early start at the Gold Coast because it has to close Thursday through Dec. 11 for the National Finals Rodeo. (It returns Dec. 12-31.)

"Tidings" is a bit of a sequel to the show that salutes the harmony groups of the 1950s. Four nerds, whose singing career was clipped by a fatal 1964 car crash, are again brought back from the afterlife. This time, their mission is to put on a Christmas TV special that would make their idol, Perry Como, proud.

Like the main show, "Tidings" combines impressive vocal arrangements with winking humor and a knack for resurrecting what writer-director Stuart Ross calls "kind of obscure and lost" pop gems.

Ross came to town to oversee the transition of the Gold Coast production before heading to San Diego to rehearse another company that will do a short tour. "We put in more jokes this year," he says, "and tried to make a smoother transition from the material that was cut out from the two-act version of the show."

"WAYNE NEWTON'S HOLIDAY SHOW"

If Santa Claus makes sure Wayne Newton gets a healthy singing voice this year, Mr. Las Vegas has the rest of it covered.

The holiday show that debuted at the Flamingo last year moves next door to sister property Harrah's Las Vegas; it was scheduled to open earlier this week and run through Dec. 14. The revue stages holiday classics complete with an ice skater, live penguins (from Newton's ranch here in town) and maybe even a horse.

Newton's wife Kathleen and daughter Erin get in on the act, too, along with costumed characters such as a snowman and giant penguin.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS LAS VEGAS"

TV host Tony Sacca again spearheads a gathering of local performers in a benefit for the Youth Foundation for the Performing Arts. This year's show is at 2 p.m. on Dec. 3 in the Stratosphere showroom. Admission is a $25 donation, and the scheduled talent lineup includes Sonny Turner, "Phantom of the Opera -- The Las Vegas Spectacular" star Brent Barrett, Las Vegas Tenor Mark Giovi and Bellagio lounge attraction Dian Diaz.

TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA

Until Rick Wakeman does an over-the-top Christmas show, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra will have to do. Paul O'Neill has made Las Vegas a regular stop for his magnum opuses that combine rock and orchestral instruments, singers, spoken narration, lasers and smoke machines.

"If you look at it on paper, it's kind of loopy. But it has worked," O'Neill noted a few years ago. "I've always been fascinated by Christmas." This year's tour visits the Orleans Arena on Dec. 10.

THE SCINTAS

The Scintas' theater at the Sahara will be redecorated for a show that will include the classics as well as some offbeat Christmas tunes, such as Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime." And some of the celebrities imitated by Frank and brother Joe Scinta will get into the spirit from Dec. 11-23.

"Even George Burns will probably get in on the act with a Hanukkah song," says Frank, who channels him nightly.

DONNY OSMOND'S HOLIDAY CELEBRATION

"You get tired of stabbing people with knives," Donny Osmond says. "You want to do something nice for once."

Huh? What?

Oh. The eternally squeaky-clean teen idol is talking about his current job, playing Gaston in the Broadway musical of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast."

He committed to do a Christmas show at The Orleans from Dec. 14-17, way before finding out he would join the Broadway show in September. He postponed one Orleans gig in October, but "I want to do this one, badly," he says.

Osmond has a 1997 Christmas album he has never performed live. You'd think that with his Mormon family and church-rooted fan base, he would have done so many Christmas concerts he'd be sick of them. But he says that aside from a tour with pianist Jim Brickman, this is his first since the early '80s.

Those "Beauty" songs are fresh on his mind, so he plans to do "Me," one of his tunes from the musical that's not in the original movie.

"THE FORGOTTEN CAROLS"

Another Mormon musician, songwriter Michael McLean, has toured for several years with "The Forgotten Carols." The theatrical production tells the story of a nurse tending to an old patient who claims to have been alive for 2,000 years, preserving the Christmas songs that fell by the wayside over a milennium or two.

The production visits Cashman Center on Dec. 16 and 18.

"CHRISTMAS HAWAIIAN STYLE"

Don Ho will sit this one out. "Christmas Hawaiian Style" is a more sincere look at Hawaiian traditions that stem back to Makahiki, the period of resting, feasting and honoring the Earth, which pre-dated European settlement of the islands and introduction of Christianity. The show at the Suncoast from Dec. 21-24 offers traditional dances and Hawaiian twists on familiar Christmas songs.