I suppose they use dice to determine who goes?
And why pre-Christmas? Note that there is any good time for it, but why Christmas exactly? Do they avoid giving some Christmas bonus? Or because they already got one?
Probably because the Christmas season is the absolutely most important season for a toy/game company like Hasbro. Once the retailer pre-orders are in for the season, it's time to cut down until it is time to gear up again for next year's season.
And similarly, since it is those pre-orders that make or break the year, it's also at that time that you can evaluate the year and decide on how high your stake for the next one is going to be.
Wonder how well "black friday" turned out this year for Hasbro and other toy companies.