It was released on September 23, 2008 by Fervent Records and was produced by Otto Price and Susan Riley for Twelve-18 Entertainment.

It is BarlowGirl's sole album to deviate from a pop rock sound, as the band opts for a traditional Christmas genre instead.

Lauren further describes the studio environment as being Christmas-themed, from the decorations ("Christmas lights and garland") to the Christmas-only music and movie policy to the air-conditioned "freezing".

[2] Sarah Barlow photographed the album art in Vail, Colorado during the first week of March 2008 while the band was taking a three-day break from Winter Jam 2008.

[2][7] The album consists of eleven tracks, seven which focus on the birth of Jesus Christ and four festivities-focused songs which are more secular in nature.

[9] For Alyssa, this included the Catholic hymn "Panis angelicus", the only BarlowGirl recording in a foreign language; Alyssa sang the lead vocals in Latin, while her sisters and the Shell sisters add English background vocals based on "O Lord Most Holy", the English adaptation.

[23] Three other critics gave the album four out of five stars: Andy Argyrakis of CCM Magazine,[21] Russ Breimeier of Christianity Today[22] and Lauren Summerford of Jesus Freak Hideout.

Summerford called Home for Christmas "a whirlwind adventure with all the bells and whistles any seasonal project should have."

On December 17, 2011, BarlowGirl returned to its hometown of Elgin, Illinois to perform a Home for Christmas concert.