This was the fourth of five albums Martin released in 1966.[1]Billboard magazine reported in its December 3, 1966 issue that The Dean Martin Christmas Album was on top of its "Best Bets for Christmas" chart.[3]
The release of The Dean Martin Christmas Album in October and The Dean Martin TV Show in November 1966 were accompanied by what Billboard described as a "merchandising avalanche"[4] by Reprise Records and their parent company Warner Music.[4]Billboard described Martin as running the "hottest streak of his career", and said that Reprise planned to sell $4 million of his records over the Christmas sales period.[4]Billboard later reported that Martin had sold 850,000 albums in December 1966.[5]
Ricci James Martin, Martin's son, wrote in a biography of his father that The Dean Martin Christmas Album was the only one of his father's albums that was played in the Martin household; his parents seldom listened to Dean Martin's music.[6]
Reviewing A Very Cool Christmas (a 2008 CD reissue of the Dean Martin Christmas Album) on Allmusic.com, William Ruhlmann gave the album three and a half stars out of five. Ruhlmann commented that Martin was in a "typically easygoing, good-natured mood on these tracks...He sings the seasonal material with the same nonchalance he gave to pop music of the period".[2]
