To promote Christmas Memories, Columbia Records released an advance sampler version of the album titled A Voice for All Seasons.

The record's mood was described as melancholic, which music critics found fitting due to the album's release occurring soon after the September 11 attacks.

It also charted in the United States, where it peaked at number 15 on the Billboard 200 and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of 1,000,000 copies.

[4] To promote the album, Columbia Records issued advertisements in several American magazines, including in InStyle, People, Talk, and Vanity Fair.

[9] "Christmas Lullaby" was written by Ann Hampton Callaway, who had previously collaborated with Streisand on Higher Ground (1997) and A Love Like Ours (1999).

[11] On the Target and iTunes editions of the album, bonus track cover of "God Bless America" is included and produced by Streisand and Landers.

[3][12] Billboard's Melinda Newman described the record as "a fine collection" and "beautifully rendered"; she also found Streisand's heavy amount of detail able to "elevate [...] the quality of this project far above the usual Christmas fare".

[2] William Ruhlmann, of AllMusic, opined that the album "may come to seem like a remarkably dour holiday collection" due to its release taking place after the September 11 attacks, but overall found that its mood "could hardly be improved upon" given the situation.

He felt that this exemplified the ability of "great artists", such as Streisand, to create and release music that "take[s] the temperature of the times with their work".

[7] Streisand was nominated at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards under the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category for Christmas Memories.

[22] "It Must Have Been the Mistletoe" was distributed to United States radio stations during the Christmas season,[23] allowing it to debut and peak at number 28 on the Adult Contemporary chart for the week ending January 5, 2002.