Maybe it's an ageing thing, but years ago I used to love seeing Christmas pres as soon as possible, and now I'm wanting them to leave it until a later point. Not that I'm becoming a scrooge, more to make it feel different. In use for too long makes them become stale too soon, and makes the week or so of Christmas seem like any normal day after using them for regular schedules.
It's not an ageing thing - there is truth in what you're saying. Airing these literally weeks before Christmas detracts from their being special symbols - equate it to opening Christmas presents on the 11th. By the time the 25th comes around, the novelty and initial enjoyment of something being new has worn off somewhat - and I'd say it's actually the waiting that's half the fun. If the idents were to show up on the 20th, for example, it would be much easier to appreciate them while they're around, instead of being tired of them as a result of the early start.
It's also worth nothing that the changes in when Christmas symbols are used daily have contributed to the saturation. We now get them in one continuous block: each day from the initial TX, generally up to the 1st Jan. Going back several years and IIRC, Christmas idents were only used on significant days in the holidays - on the 27th there would be a break, and normal symbols would be used for a few days - then on New Year's Eve the festive symbols would return. So previously, it wasn't even 24th to the 31st, it was less than that - reserved for the absolute minimum of days.
Bearing all that in mind, and when we see how far things have moved in the other direction now (beyond the maximum of days, IMO), I think there's a strong case for saving Christmas idents until much later.
