The reason for this long is to have possible winner, if is short then it wouldn't be that fun. The fun part of it is the long it's taking so we can see what would make us laughing. However, it's meant for next year celebration as this months to next months 24th will be game moment instead of just having it so short.
You can still make the time long for us to make merit guesses. Promise444c5 has already posted what I meant ffor more clarity. If people can make guesses up to January 24 and the merit will not last more than 25th of January, I think the Tim eos very short. At least you can let there be a week or two weeks differences. This is my opinion. I guess people will likely make the complaint later but once you know early already, it can still be fixed as soon as possible. Also it will not affect those that have made their guesses already if it is not changed from 25th of January but the time given for people to make their selection can be adjusted back a bit.