While many are still uncertain what to give their loved ones for the holidays this year, Buffalo already has its gift to the city wrapped and ready to go. What could this be, you ask? It’s a gift in the form of all the holiday music you could ever think of.

There are so many people aching to spread holiday cheer that you’d practically have to keep your eyes closed for the whole month in order to miss it. So, strap on your sleigh bells and here we go:

Instead of eating lunch at your desk or in your cubicle, go outside instead to the M&T Bank Holiday Concert Series every day this week from noon to 1pm. These free concerts, held on Main and Genesee at the Fountain Plaza Branch, have become a holiday tradition in Downtown Buffalo, and feature music by area high school performing ensembles and choirs.

Support Buffalo’s public school music program by going to the Broadway Market Thursday, December 14 from noon to 1pm, for a free concert given by the Buffalo Public School Music Department. Just how talented is the Music Department? You’ll never know if you don’t check them out. And at the Broadway Market—it’s the perfect location for a lunchtime performance.

Mary Stahl, known for her distinctive jazz/cabaret vocal stylings, performs in a special Christmas concert at the Tralf on December 15 at 8pm. Stahl will lend her sultry, laid-back feel to this performance, accompanied by pianist Jim Calabrese, bassist Bill Staebell, with Duffy Fornes on drums, and special guest Dave Schiavone on sax and flute. She will be celebrating the season and the release of her new CD entitled Love Noire. Tickets are available at the Tralf ticket office (852-2860), Ticketmaster, and New World Records.

Expect the expected and unexpected at the Holiday Pops concerts with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra December 15-17. Why? Special guests the Empire Brass Quintet and Academy and Grammy Award-winning pianist and composer Marvin Hamlisch will team up for a major holiday event at HSBC Arena. Show times are Friday, December 15 at 8pm; Saturday, December 16 at 2:30 and 8pm; and Sunday, December 17 at 2:30pm. Tickets are priced between $25 and $72, and are available at Kleinhans Music Hall, by phone (800-318-9404), or online at www.bpo.org.

Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? The New Horizons Band of Western New York is made up of 40 musicians who are at least 50 years old and love to play instruments, and is part of a community outreach project offered in the Fredonia School of Music. Their holiday concert at 7pm on Friday, December 15 at Fredonia High School Auditorium is free, but the band would appreciate donations of non-perishable food that will be donated to the Food Pantry of the Chautauqua County Rural Ministry.

If you’re in the mood for some old-fashioned holiday caroling, be sure to stop in the Unitarian Universalist Church social hall on the corner of Elmwood and West Ferry on Friday, December 15, 7-8pm. Hot cocoa, candy canes and cookies will lend a festive hand to this event, and watch out for an appearance by a special visitor from the North Pole.

The legendary Andy Williams brings his Christmas Spectacular show to us all the way from Branson, Missouri, to dazzle and delight people of all ages with some classic, G-rated family entertainment for the holidays. The show will play at Shea’s Performing Arts Center on Friday, December 15 at 7:30pm. Tickets are available and are priced between $40 and $53.

Linda Eder returns to the UB Performing Arts Mainstage Theatre Saturday, December 16 at 8pm. Eder is a recording artist and Broadway star, praised for a voice that has been critically acclaimed as reminiscent of both Judy Garland and Ella Fitzgerald. The concert will feature holiday classics mixed in with standards and Broadway favorites. Tickets are available now and are priced between $37 and $49, or $20 for students.

The Cheektowaga Community Symphony Orchestra present its Sounds of the Season concert featuring Mary Beth Wrobel of WIVB-TV and the Cheektowaga Community Chorus on Sunday, December 17 at 3pm. The concert will include a Christmas Carol Sing-a-long, and will be held at the St. John Gualbert Church located at 83 Gualbert Avenue in Cheektowaga.

The Opera-Lytes present their second annual Christmas concert on Sunday, December 17 at 4pm. Together with many traditional carols and songs will be excerpts from Charles Dickens’ perennial favorite A Christmas Carol, set to music and staged. The concert will be held at the Amherst Community Church, located at 77 Washington Highway in Snyder. Tickets are $10 and may be purchased at the door the day of, or by calling 837-3440.

Traditional carols sung by the Choir of the Blessed Sacrament Church will trace the Nativity story through scripture and song at its 28th Annual Festival Service of Lessons and Carols on Sunday, December 17 at 5pm at 1025 Delaware Avenue. Begun in King’s College Chapel at Cambridge University nearly a century ago, the Service of Lessons and Carols is performed in churches around the world.

The all-star Celtic women’s ensemble Cherish the Ladies will make a stop in Buffalo along their 20-city tour Tuesday, December 19 at the Buffalo State Performing Arts Center. This performance will feature special guest Kathleen Boyle from Scotland on piano and harmony vocals, as well as a group of world-class step dancers.

The Buffalo Bones & Buffalo Brass Christmas Show takes place at the Tralf on Friday, December 22. Celebrate the season with two of Buffalo’s premier jazz big bands.

Star Search grand prize-winner Pat Shea will lend a little country to some holiday favorites at the Lancaster Opera House on Friday, December 22 at 8pm.

The Trans-Siberian Orchestra puts a progressive-rock spin on traditional holiday classics at HSBC Arena on Saturday, December 23 at 3 and 8pm. The show features an orchestral string section, a full rock band, vocalists, a narrator, an unbelievable light show and pyrotechnics that might literally blow you away. Tickets are priced between $38 and $48, and are available now at the HSBC Box Office Arena, online at www.tickets.com, and all tickets.com outlets, including some participating Tops Markets.

—caitlin derose