HunchBluntley: The big fall sale comes first (generally in mid-November, lasting for two weeks or close to it); The big winter sale usually begins less than two weeks after the fall sale ends, and lasts for a week and a half to two weeks. In other words, the winter sale is over well before Christmas. Plan accordingly. :)
221bBS: I don't understand why we have the Fall and Winter sale so close together.
And why don't we have a big Spring sale? or did I miss it (only been buying here for a year)
Sometimes they don't call some of the major seasonal sales after the actual season (usually fall and spring). This year's big spring sale, for example, was the weirdly-named (and underwhelming) Sleepy Sheep Insomnia Sale (and 2015's was also an Insomnia sale).
As to why the late-year seasonal sale are held so close together, someone already mentioned the main reason earlier in the thread: they're trying to avoid getting stepped on by the Steam winter sale.