The album was primarily produced by David Foster, and features guest appearances from Barbra Streisand, Chris Botti, Jessie J, The Clark Sisters, and Marc Anthony.

In October 2023, Blige released a deluxe version of the album, titled A Mary Christmas: Anniversary Edition, which saw four additional tracks.

[4] In that interview, Blige revealed featured artists to be on the record would be Jessie J, Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony and Barbra Streisand, with whom she duets a "jazzy version" of "When You Wish Upon a Star."

Foster is also the producer of multi-platinum Christmas albums by Michael Bublé, Rod Stewart, Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban and Celine Dion.

He felt that the album "won't likely reach the high status of, say, Mariah Carey's Merry Christmas, but it's a full-effort holiday release that many of her fans should be able to enjoy for several years.

"[8] In his review for Renowned for Sound, Josh Dixon remarked that with A Mary Christmas "Blige has provided listeners with something unique and thoroughly pleasant.

[16] Andy Gill from The Independent felt that "one hardly looks to Mary J Blige for restraint, but here the combination with David Foster's orchestrations adds an extra layer of icing to an already sickly cake.