[2] The album is a collection of Christmas songs and contains collaborations with artists including Norah Jones and Sara Bareilles.

Like Music Is Better Than Words, Holiday for Swing was produced and conducted by film and television composer Joel McNeely.

[4] On May 15, 2014, it was announced that MacFarlane had completed his first Christmas album and that it would be released in time for the 2014 holiday season.

Part of it was because we didn't want to bump up against the production schedule for Ted 2, which is not an ideal time to be recording anything with 12 to 15-hour days shooting a movie.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic rated the album three stars out of five and states: "Apart from the ever so slight notion that he's singing with a wink borrowed from Burl Ives – a tell that gives away his status as a Gen-Xer weaned on Rankin & Bass holiday productions – MacFarlane plays it straight, even when he's camping it up with Sara Bareilles on "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (Norah Jones is the other guest, singing on "Little Jack Frost Get Lost"), and this sincerity plays out in his favor.