I personally would not buy from or at least be cautious with someone that ships around Christmas, especially a new shipper. I think Dec. 14th will be our cutoff this year until after the New Year. The package volume FedEx and UPS has to deal with is incredible and results in greatly increased package delays. So much so that I believe they suspend "on time" guarantees. That also means they'll have more trouble and have to take more time to trace a misplaced or delayed package.