Christmas Song Bracket Challenge

 And the 2025 Christmas Bracket Champion is... O Come O Come Emmanuel!!! I said it last year, and I get to say it again:  I am overjoyed that we have yet to have a repeat champion.  I think the streak will end next year, but to go five years with a new winner each time has really kept this whole endeavor interesting.   And the fact that Pa's favorite won the whole thing this year is especially satisfying.  Yeah, sure, by telling everyone, I probably tampered with the process, but I have no regrets and I'd do it again. Although it is a lot of work, this is a labor of love and I hope that it brought you some light and levity this season - and that you maybe listened a little more closely to the Christmas music around you.  It has been a tough year here, and I apologize that my quips have not been as humorous or informative as in previous brackets.  Here's hoping for a joyous return next time.   But for now, I leave you with a quo...

The Semifinal Round is now closed.  We are down to the last matchup of the 2025 Christmas Song Bracket.  There were 64 teams when we started.  Now, there are two left. Here are the results from the Final Four: FOR PA!!! Sin and error pining, baby...

Click here to vote in the Final Round The fifth round is underway!  Click below to cast your vote  for the best Christmas song in each matchup. If you don't know one of the choices...dude. This round will close on  Wednesday, December 24 at 8pm EST .  Results will be announced shortly after. Please share this link and encourage others to do the same!!!   We officially have a rematch of 2023's Final.  It is the second O Off between O Come O Come Emmanuel and O Holy Night .  The last secular song has fallen and it's down to Advent vs. Nativity.   Thank you for participating.  As always - choose wisely! Click here to vote in The Final Round

   Click here to vote in Round 5 The fifth round is underway!  Click below to cast your vote  for the best Christmas song in each matchup. If you don't know one of the choices, we encourage you to look it up! This round will close on  Sunday, December 21 at 8pm EST .  Results will be announced shortly after, and the new round will begin.   Please share this link and encourage others to do the same!!!   What a Final Four!  On one side of the bracket, we have  O Come O Come Emmanuel looking for its first championship, facing off against last year's winner,  Silent Night . On the other side, two former champions square off - 2023 Champion  O Holy Night and 2020 Champion Sleigh Ride . Will we have an All O Final?  Will we have a 2023 rematch?  Will a sleigh plow into the manger and send the live nativity participants scattering?  It's all up to you! Thank you for participating.  As always - choose...

 The Fourth Round is now closed.  We are down to the Final Four!  Half of the remaining field are previous bracket winners, and the other half are looking to continue the streak of new champions.    Here are the results from the Elite Eight: "Pa would want it this way."     10/10 no notes. For those who don't know, O Come O Come Emmanuel  was my father-in-law's favorite.  He loved it so much that it was sung at his funeral - in August.  I'm not telling y'all how to vote or anything, but  every time this one advances, it's in Pa's memory.  "It's not Christmas until you sing, 'Word of the the Father, now in flesh appearing!'"     So true.  You also can't go wrong with a good "Veiled in flesh the Godhead see!'" Maybe we need a whole "later verses" bracket.   Early in the week, O Come All Ye Faithful was comfortably ahead.  I even wrote up a whole thing about the "O Come Scrum" in the next round. ...

  Click here to vote in Round 4 The third round is underway!  Click below to cast your vote  for the best Christmas song in each matchup. If you don't know one of the choices, we encourage you to look it up! This round will close on  Sunday, December 14 at 8pm EST .  Results will be announced shortly after, and the new round will begin.   Please share this link and encourage others to do the same!!!   There are several HUGE matchups in this round that will force voters to make impossible decisions.  But I'm personally most interested in  Christmas Time is Here  vs.  Mr. Grinch .  It's making me want a crossover event where Charlie Brown gets fed up with the emotional trauma and teams up with the Grinch.  Snoopy and Max team up to save the day of course.   Click here to vote in Round 4

 The Third Round is now closed.  We have reached the Elite Eight and now all the choices are tough.  All four of our previous champions are still in the running.  A first repeat champion is starting to look more likely, but there are still new faces with a very real shot. Here are the results of Round 3: "I've been to St. Louis, and honestly, I think we can find a better place to meet."       Agreed.  And don't get me started on the abomination that is St. Louis style pizza. This was a close one!  I watched it swing back and forth throughout the week.  I've got a feeling about Have Yourself  this year... "I'm still a little confused about the origins of CotB... Apparently a Ukrainian choir toured the US shortly before the war and Peter Wilhousky decided one of their songs was a Christmas song?"     About right. The original is "Shchedryk." But there's no need to be a Schmendrick about it.   O Come All Ye Fai...

Click here to vote in Round 4 The third round is underway!  Click below to cast your vote  for the best Christmas song in each matchup. If you don't know one of the choices, we encourage you to look it up! This round will close on  Sunday, December 14 at 8pm EST .  Results will be announced shortly after, and the new round will begin.   Please share this link and encourage others to do the same!!!   There are several HUGE matchups in this round that will force voters to make impossible decisions.  But I'm personally most interested in Christmas Time is Here  vs. Mr. Grinch .  It's making me want a crossover event where Charlie Brown gets fed up with the emotional trauma and teams up with the Grinch.  Snoopy and Max team up to save the day of course.   Click here to vote in Round 4

The Second Round is now closed.  We have our Sweet Sixteen and things are starting to get real. We had TWO TIES!  As per the rules of the Bracket, any ties are decided by a cancer survivor.  This round, we turned to Konkrete Kathy, Sister Cement, the Asphalt Angel herself to advance our deadlocks.   We also had several songs advancing to the Third Round for the first time ever.   Here are the results of Round 2: We have a winner for the non-gendered translation:  God Rest Ye Merry Gentlethem.   And firm agreement to the person who called out the Mannheim Steamroller version.  That is one of the recordings that spurred my love of the wide variety of Christmas music.  This bracket would not exist without those cheesy but wonderful arrangements.  Thank you, Chip - we truly are all in this together. Secular victory in a battle of giants. "Ding fries are done."  "CotB is very anxiety-inducing for musicians to perform. Inst...

   Click here to vote in Round 2 The second round is underway!  Click below to cast your vote  for the best Christmas song in each matchup. If you don't know one of the choices, we encourage you to look it up! This round will close on  Tuesday, December 9 at 8am EST .  Results will be announced shortly after, and the new round will begin.   Please share this link and encourage others to do the same!!!   Interesting matchups in Round 2: The winners of the first round Angel and Crooner matchups face off:  Angels We Have Heard on High  vs  Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas Sound and Silence Revisited:   Jingle Bells  vs  Silent Night Can they both lose?  It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas vs  All I Want for Christmas is You The Peanuts Bowl: Linus and Lucy vs Christmas Time is Here   Click here to vote in Round 2

The First Round is now closed!  Results and commentary are below.   First , my yearly disclaimer:  I am an unabashed music snob.  I may trash-talk one of your favorites.  But this is all in good fun, so  please  fire back at me.  There's no banter like music geek banter.  Second , a response to several comments: The bracket is seeded randomly*.  This can lead to some wild first-round matchups (e.g. Hark the Herald vs. Angels we Have Heard ).  But without this element of randomness, I really think we'd see the later rounds look the same year after year after year.  I am thrilled that we've yet to have a repeat champion.  Replayability matters.   * I did shift two matchups manually this year because the random draw led to repeats of last year's first round.  And yes, I will continue to do everything in my power to try to get Hooray for Santa Claus  into the second round.  But other than that , ...