Negotiations might slow down a bit during the holidays but there are still plenty of Companies announcing big contracts every day.
Just type the keywords: 12/15/2011+announces+contract into Google and you will find that many companies announced contracts today.
Also RAYS management could have been negotiating with several big boys for months and its just now that the negotiations have come to a successful close and the contract is announced.
But of course you bring up a valid argument as always, things do slow down during the holidays a bit but I remain very hopeful!