Best 90’s Christmas Song—Play-in Round

Whew. We’ve got 26 submissions again (I added one of my own to be able to use the same bracket as last time), lots of Amy Grant, lots of Koskela Family Nostalgia™ backing Steven Curtis Chapman, BIG voices in Whitney, Mariah, and Celine, and quite a few I had never heard before they were submitted.

So we’ve got a job to do! (And I had a challenging job seeding this thing. Do I make Amy and Steven Curtis fight themselves early to weed them out? Do I seed based on what I like best now, or what epitomized the 90’s? Hard choices for a commissioner!) The top six get a bye, which means you have 20 songs you MUST listen to, and 10 matchups to vote in for the play-in round. Deadline: Saturday at 3 pm PST. (Background info here.)

Here’s the bracket:

First, here are the top 6 seeds that already get a pass into the next round, so you don’t have to vote on them yet. I fiddled with the seedings so that no artist got two songs with a bye:

6: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by Phil Keaggy and Kym Hill, submitted by Elaine Koskela.

5: Hark the Herald Angels Sing by Take 6, submitted by me.

4: Reve du Noel by Michael W. Smith, submitted by Kelly Simonsen.

3: Our God is With Us by Steven Curtis Chapman, submitted by Elaine Koskela (with support from Hayley and Natalie)

2: Grown Up Christmas List by Amy Grant, submitted by Gabrielle Horttor and Sally Unrau.

1: Jesus Born on this Day by Mariah Carey, submitted by Bethany Bylsma.

Now, here’s where you vote. Vote for one song in each of the ten matchups by clicking on the name of the song underneath the YouTube link. You don’t have to vote in each matchup if you don’t want to, but your vote matters so you should! We’ll go in the order they appear on the bracket above:

16 Little Drummer Boy by WhiteHeart (submitted by Jenn Perez) vs. 17 A Christmas to Remember by Amy Grant (submitted by Elizabeth Curtis Gemeroy)

[socialpoll id=”2881933″]

8 All I Want For Christmas is You by Mariah Carey (submitted by Robin Mohr) vs. 25 Santa Can’t Stay by Dwight Yoakim (also submitted by Robin Mohr)

[socialpoll id=”2881934″]

9 Angels We Have Heard on High by Windham Hill (submitted by Kelly Simonsen) vs. 24 Mary Did You Know? by Kenny Rogers & Wynona Judd (submitted by Andy Comfort)

[socialpoll id=”2881935″]

12 O Come, O Come Emmanuel by Steven Curtis Chapman (submitted by Elaine Koskela) vs. 21 Run, Run, Rudolph by Dwight Yoakim (submitted by Robin Mohr)

[socialpoll id=”2881936″]

13 Breath of Heaven by Amy Grant (submitted by Twila Tschan) vs. 20 Christmas is All in the Heart by Steven Curtis Chapman (submitted by Elaine Koskela)

[socialpoll id=”2881937″]

11 Welcome to Our World by Amy Grant (submitted by Paula Hampton) vs. 22 Parade of the Wooden Soldiers by Harry Connick Jr. (submitted by Bethany Bylsma)

[socialpoll id=”2881938″]

14 Emmanuel, God With Us by Point of Grace (submitted by Bethany Bylsma) vs. 19 Happy Hanukkah by Adam Sandler (submitted by Becky Ankeny)

[socialpoll id=”2881939″]

7 Hark the Herald Angels Sing/The Music of Christmas by Steven Curtis Chapman (submitted by Hayley Koskela and an assist from Natalie Koskela-Staples) vs. 26 Merry Christmas from the Family by Robert Earl Keane (submitted by Lori)

[socialpoll id=”2881940″]

10 Who Would Imagine a King? by Whitney Houston (submitted by Bethany Bylsma) vs. 23 Under My Tree by *NSYNC (submitted by Haley Krueger)

[socialpoll id=”2881941″]

15 O Holy Night by Celine Dion (submitted by Willow Merritt) vs. 18 Silent Night/Away in a Manger/O Holy Night by Steven Curtis Chapman (submitted by Elaine Koskela)

[socialpoll id=”2881942″]

Listen! Vote! Share! Yell at seeding! Have fun!