They don't need to hit your account by the 8th, as long as they are qualifying and reach your account at some point they will still count towards your status renewal. You can also phone up and request a two week 'extension' if you have flights coming up just after your renewal date (in reality it just means that flights taken in the two weeks following the end of your year will be added to your balance from the previous year to enable your renewal to happen) - I believe this is discretionary, but reports seem to indicate it is always granted.
Welcome to FT.
That is not the position the OP is in though. Their flights are still in their old year even if they post in the new year. BAs systems will handle this automatically and the OP does not need to phone and request anything.