Welcome to FlyerTalk !
It can take awhile to see the miles post to your Mileage Plus account, even after they have show up on the shopping portal.
As long as 6-8 weeks, though I rarely see it take that long.
If I read the post correctly, you have until the end of January, so you have some time to wait.
There are more immediate ways of getting miles to post, such as purchasing miles from the CO site. You can always use this as a backup if it gets to the end of the month and you still do not have activity.
(This assumes you have a CO account and linked it to your UA account).
Now that I think about it, do you have a CO account? Transferring a few miles from your CO account to your UA account might show as activity....