Thanks for that insight iofoto. Yes, the Christmas image market is probably overburdened with pictures.
Down here in Australia, Christmas is about being on the beach!
However, looking back to recent times when I lived in England, I can remember being aghast every year as the shops insist on starting to promote their Christmas goods at the end of September and then run the whole promotion thing through to Christmas and beyond. Basically, from September onwards England, and most of the rest of Northern Europe, is beseiged by Christmas marketing then New Year then New Year sales. The sheer volume of pictures required for that period must be huge.
So I take the view that every photographer ought to have a series of Christmas images in their portfolio otherwise they could completely miss out on an important three month period. Yes the market is probably saturated, but one thing is certain - no Christmas images means no Christmas sales.
So I'll do my fair share of Christmassy pictures and try to make them a little different and we'll see. I suppose it's a bit like the Lottery - if you don't buy a ticket you can't win.
Presumably the same Christmas marketing thang happens in North America and Canada?