Dh has always gotten a yearly bonus in December since he's worked for his current employer. It's part of his salary, and if they were to take that away and blame the economy, he'd be looking for another job! It's a pretty significant bonus.
I actually just started working where DH does, but in a different department. I am not management, so I get smaller, quarterly bonuses. This will be my first full quarter working, and I've already been told I'll see the full bonus. Because of the holidays, and closing the books for year end, the 4th quarter bonuses come out much earlier, so we'll see those around the 15th. I'm trying to hold off on too much Christmas shopping until then!