Never, ever believe a release date on Amazon unless it's been confirmed by the publisher elsewhere. And even then it's not set in stone. 
I'm also having a hard time waiting for this one. I hope it ships soon...
According to the latest distributor update from Atlas, it's due back from the printer any day now, and will ship out once the holidays are over. So yes, it really should be available in January.
Yay! Can't wait to get my copy!
The internal House politics and the Scholomance are worth the price of admission by themselves.
-Ben.
Ditto!
This has proved enough to rekindle my passion for Ars and make me look at the entirely too large list of books for 5th I am behind in purchasing. My wallet cries, because it knows what is coming, but I find so much that has been published during my hiatus is extremely interesting... I am piqued. And especially this on the horizon is something I find I am eager to see.
Yeah. Most stores don't differentiate between their own educated guesses put in as placeholders, and actual official release dates. They're better now than they used to be, but that still doesn't make them trustworthy.
I was a bit disappointed that I wouldn't be getting this for the holidays, mostly because I want something to read while traveling. 
Otherwise I don't really mind the wait, although I think my wife is a bit irked that neither of the gifts she's gotten me (this book and a minecraft world she constructed) can be wrapped and put under the tree.
looking forward to this one!
Giddy with anticipation
At the warehouse and being shipped. Wonderful news.
I'm eager to see the finished product.
Matt Ryan
Yup, I am also eagerly awaiting its arrival
Just nosing through this book, and I'm loving it.
-Ben.
Blackguard!
mine's still in the mail 
I probably have another month before I get my hands on a copy...
That means that the NDA is over.
Excellent! There's so much good stuff in there - or I hope there still is anyway
Yep, same here. Oh, cruel and uncaring fate. 
Right...
So. Lots of stuff there. Any questions?
Just in case folks are wondering...
The books were shipped this week so that all of our US distributors should be receiving their shipments on Monday (assuming they placed an order on time). Amazon.com, too, which had a lot of pre-orders, will be receiving their copies on Monday -- though they sometimes seem to take several days to process receipt and show things as in stock in their system. If anyone has pre-ordered from Amazon, I'd be curious to know when a book actually is in your hands.
Authors may be getting their copies at any time, depending on unknowns of the post office. I did get all the author/playtester copies mailed this week, over the course of several days.
When non-US stores get the book is anyone's guess. We shipped all the orders given to us, but the variable distance/time to different freight forwarders is then amplified by the variable freight arrangements/shipping frequency/time-in-transit of different distributors. But it probably won't be too long.
Amazon tells me : shipping estimate : January 17th ; delivery estimate : January 30. (I live in Belgium).