All non-essential DoD typically goes into a holding pattern from 15 Dec until the first Monday after New Years' each year. That doesn't stop the backlog of paperwork and applications from piling, up, though. It will probably take until the end of Jan before everything is caught back up. Likely the reason the third board isn't held until the 2nd week of Feb.
Common feature of life in the DoD-- your daughters/sons will get used to it.