One of my biggest AMEX purchases is for my home and auto insurance. If I can plan to apply for a big-spend card right around my renewal date, then I can pay a big chunk off with that one item. Or, if not, I'll switch my insurance payments back to pre-authorized monthly debits from my bank account, and then if a promo comes along requiring a big spend, I'll call into the insurance company to ask for the remaining balance on my annual insurance premiums to be paid off in one big lump sum.
Otherwise, yeah, XMAS time is a good time to plan around for these cards.