Disappointing year for the Christmas sales?

Is it me or have Christmas sales this year been a bit, meh? First off, it annoys me that some sales started prior to christmas. I mean, can us girls have one day off a year without thinking of shopping? Then there's the items that are in the sale, I haven't been blown away yet. I went to Oxford yesterday with my mum, and whilst we both picked up a charm in Pandora, that's all that caught our eye. I picked up some jeans in Zara, but that's because I don't have one in Portsmouth and Zara is one of the very few company's  which sells jeans that actually fit me, but they're not exactly exciting. I was praying this year to find a bargin New Year's Eve dress, but whilst traipsing round a local shopping centre today with the girls, absolutely nothing caught our eyes. One of my friends described river island as a jumble sale, which while it may be true, it's the only place I brought anything in! I worked there for 6 months a few years back and the amount of nylon and rhinestones puts me off slightly. Having said that, we embraced the huge rales of clothes that can date back at least 5 years, and I eventually picked up a midi skirt. Id attatch a photo but the lighting in my room is awful! It's basically a sort of geometric black, royal blue and white skirt with a slight slit up the back. For £12 I couldn't leave it there, but it isn't exactly what I had in mind. I think for new year I'm just going to team it with some black wedges and black top, let the skirt do the talking!