'Twas the summer before Christmas and all through Heinz Hall, thoughts were flowing about a program that would really be a ball. Yes, artistic administrator Shelley Sampson and her staff of elves were mulling a theme for the next Pittsburgh Symphony Pops holiday concert.

With all the great seasonal tunes on tap, the PSO usually relies on its symphony as the ribbon to tie its holiday package together. But this year Sampson wanted the concert to be a real trip -- in other words, take audiences on a musical adventure.

Just as we wondered "Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?" in the '90s and, more recently, followed "Today's" Matt Lauer on exotic jaunts around the globe, now the PSO will piggyback off those ideas with "Where in the World Is Santa Claus?" It features a frantic Mrs. Claus -- along with Attack Theatre, the Children's Festival Chorus and the Mendelssohn Choir and, hopefully, Santa Claus himself -- tomorrow through Sunday at Heinz Hall.

Conductor Robert Bernhardt is a little tight-lipped about some of the surprises in store for the audience. But with a little arm-twisting, he provided some information about the bonbons that the PSO has to offer, such as a brand new song by Pops conductor Marvin Hamlisch, titled "Chanukah Lights."

When Sampson asked Bernhardt, for help in creating the holiday adventure, he came up with a skeleton list of songs to start, although he admits that the list had to be fine-tuned with some research.

"I wasn't particularly sure that 'Silent Night' had a German origin," says the downright jolly conductor, who we found in Chattanooga, Tenn., where he is director of the symphony and opera there and principal pops conductor for the nearby Louisville Orchestra.

The Mendelssohn's Betsy Burleigh and Festival Chorus' Christine Jordanoff had a few ideas of their own, and with the consensus complete, the show was ready to go.

There will be the familiar, like "Deck the Hall," and the not-so-familiar but just as beautiful "Jerusalem," which Bernhardt calls "goose-bumpy." Of course, there will be a little traveling music.

And when the program heads home for the holidays, it will offer a Pittsburghese twist on the "Twelve Days of Christmas." Hmmm ... five Super Bowl rings? Pierogies?

Bernhardt wants the audience to let its imagination run wild as he and the Pops head down a different path this season, jingling all the way.