You know Christmas is coming when the lights go up outdoors, the trees go up indoors, and when The Canadian Brass sparkles with its unique form of Christmas music. Last night, the five brass players lit up a sold-out house at the Maine Center for the Arts, and made it their mission to put everyone in the holiday spirit.

One suspects that these guys are pretty adept at creating spirit wherever they go since, in the last 28 years, The Canadian Brass has been tooting up a storm. Whether the music is by Bach, such as the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, or tunes by the Beatles, including “Come Together,” complete with fluttering madness on two trumpets, this ensemble blasts its way right into being one of the most popular groups to perform at the Maine Center.

It may have a little something to do with the black patent leather sneakers they were wearing. But mostly, Christopher Cooper (French horn), Chuck Daellenbach (tuba), Jens Lindemann and Ronald Romm (both on trumpet) and Eugene Watts (trombone) are ace musicians. They combine rigorous musicianship with clowning, and the outcome is both a pleasure and a hoot.

That’s not to say, however, that they don’t shine during gentler moments. Entering by a side door and strolling beside the audience, The Canadian Brass began with a somber version of “Just a Closer Walk with Thee.” Although the players did take the piece into a New Orleans-style jazz, they also reached low into their guts to come up with emotion and soul.

The program made the most of many traditional holiday tunes including “O Christmas Tree,” “The Holly and the Ivy,” a luscious trombone solo of “Away in a Manger” and three Hanukkah songs. For Tomaso Albinoni’s Adagio in G minor, three of the musicians went into the audience creating a Sensurround sound effect, and for both “Silent Night” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” the audience got to sing along.

Most unforgettable was a 10-minute version of Bizet’s opera “Carmen,” featuring not only snippets of the music but an artistic rewrite that includes a bull. “Frosty the Snowman,” during which tuba man Daellenbach melts onto the floor and is actually supine when he plays his last note, will not soon be dashed from memory either.

Safe to say that, in just over two hours, The Canadian Brass accomplished its mission. Christmas came to town last night — big and bold and brassy.