Next Episode of House MD

Can someone tell me why the next episode of House will be aired some time in January 2011? It happened before in Season 7 theat there was a 2 or 3 week gap between the episodes. I've been searching on the Internet and can't find the answer to the question why there are gaps in the season..

All I know is that the next episode (SE7E09) is called "Larger than Live" and that there is going to be a confrontation between House and Cuddy's mother. From a sneak peak preview I saw it seems like the mother comes to the clinic to check out Cuddy's boyfriend. I guess I have to wait until January to find out more!