I like to make PS's only because we eat a large breakfast, skip lunch and am hungry comes dinner.
Our choose of a early dinner is sometimes very difficult to obtain. We have never been turned away but we usually do not get seated until 8pm without a PS.
I now make my PS's early, most I keep, some I may call that day to see if they can be changed to a later time. There usually isn't any problem.
I like the idea of knowing there is a seat waiting for me, yes sometimes there is a wait even with PS's, but I know it's not a 1-2 hour wait.
While I think January is a slow time, and there should not be any problems get into restaurants when you want. I would still make a few.