Submitted photoMariachi Sol de Mexico

Elsewhere, you’ll find lots of options for a pleasant arts/culture-driven holiday experience: Christmas plays, Santa encounters, concerts featuring beloved carols performed by angelic voices — all the good stuff.

Truly, it’s all good, fun stuff. You should pick a few and attend them. Support the local folks who work hard to make our Decembers red and green and white and snowflake-y and well-lit.

If, however, you are looking for a less typical and traditional (at least for Central Oregon) holiday experience, you must consider catching Mariachi Sol de Mexico’s “A Merri-achi Christmas!” show on Tuesday night.

The 13-piece band was formed in 1981 by still-bandleader Jose Hernandez, a trumpet player whose family tree is rooted in five generations of mariachi musicians from the state of Jalisco, Mexico. Mariachi Sol de Mexico performs regularly at Hernandez’s popular SoCal nightclub, Cielito Lindo; for the “Merri-achi” show, Hernandez and his gang of string-benders, horn-blowers and vocalists merge the musical traditions of Mexico with familiar Christmas favorites, such as “Silent Night,” “Little Drummer Boy,” “O Holy Night” and more.

Those are three slow songs, and Mariachi Sol de Mexico will no doubt perform them with grace. But several YouTube videos reveal a band that, when it cuts loose and plays upbeat, traditional mariachi music, is an absolutely spine-tingling thing to watch. The melodies are gorgeous. The arrangements are incredibly tight. The horn section is so vibrant, it practically leaps from whatever janky speakers you’re likely using.

Above all, Mariachi Sol de Mexico is big and breathtaking and tons of fun, and I found watching them to be kind of life-affirming. Check them out for yourself at www.soldemexicomusic.com.

Mariachi Sol de Mexico; 7:30 p.m. Tuesday; $30-$40 plus fees, available through the venue; Tower Theatre, 735 NW Wall St., Bend; www.towertheatre.org or 541-317-0700.

— Ben Salmon