Christmas celebrations vary from family to family. Twinkling trees, colorfully wrapped presents, seven-course meals and laughter and joy signify Christmas festivity for some.

For others, Christmas means music.

On Tuesday at The Bryce Jordan Center, the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra will present a holiday concert, presenting classic and contemporary seasonal music.

Conductor Keith Lockhart will lead the Boston Pops in performances of playful classics, timeless carols and fresh arrangements of traditional tunes.

Guest performers include actor Paul O'Brian, who will narrate a musical version of Dr. Seuss's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," and gospel vocalist Renese King.

"Music has always been part of the celebration of Christmas for me," King said. "I don't think it would be Christmas without a musical part."

King -- a vocalist, pianist, choral director, arranger and percussionist -- is an alumna of Boston's Berklee College of Music.

King began playing piano when she was four-and-a-half-years old, and her interest in music intensified as she grew older and attended schools with good musical programs and participated in choirs and youth orchestras, she said.

"Because I have such a strong church background, gospel was a natural thing," King said.

"Gospel music is such a powerful musical idiom," she added. "The content and message have to do with my own faith."

King mainly sings gospel and spirituals with a "contemporary twist," but also has interests in classical music, jazz and modern pop music.

King lists Bach and Rachmaninoff as two of her favorite composers. She enjoys listening to a "hodge-podge" of music, including contemporary rhythm and blues singers, like Oleta Adams.

It was her interest in gospel music that first got King involved with the Boston Pops. Every year, the Pops presents "Gospel Night," in which King used to play percussion in the orchestra.

King said that one year "I was approached to be in "Gospel Night" as a choir member . . . I just did it."

Eventually King stepped into the spotlight when she secured a soloist position in the 2000 Gospel Night.

"Gospel has a lot of call and response. It's traditional to have a leader with a choir backing them up," King said, explaining the leadership role she has as a soloist.

In the same year, King said the Pops decided to add a gospel component to its Christmas program.

She was featured in several of the Boston Pops' 2000 Holiday Pops concerts.

"It's really exciting for me to see gospel music incorporated into other things the Pops is doing," King said.

This year, King will perform a variety of Christmas songs, including "My Lord, What a Morning," "Rise Up, Shepherd," "Glory Hallelujah" and "Do You Hear What I Hear?"

King said the new Boston Pops arrangement of "Do You Hear What I Hear?" is "a really beautiful orchestral setting of the piece with a choir, but with a contemporary R&B and pop element to it."

Other songs the orchestra is slated to perform include "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," "Christmas Time is Here" from A Charlie Brown Christmas, and a medley of time-honored children's carols, such as "Jingle Bells" and "Frosty the Snowman."

"The season has a special meaning and evokes special feelings," King said.

"Christmas music tends to put me and other people in a mode of celebration," she added.

"I hope the gospel Christmas spirit will catch on," she said.

The Boston Pops holiday concert will take place at 8 p.m. Tuesday at The Bryce Jordan Center.

Tickets are available through Ticketmaster outlets, online or by calling 814-865-5555.

They are priced at $39.50 and $49.50,