I'll answer to bump this one for you.

I'm not sure, but I'd suggest witch hazel, Hamamelis virginiana.

FataMorgana

Here is a link that might be useful: witch hazel flowers

Perhaps when the leaves come out there will be more clues to identify it.

As stated, above, Rarefind Nursery, has pages of photos for comparison, and bloom times are often mentioned.
Just google the name in.

Well, after much searching and comparing, I've narrowed the field down to two possibilities (at least at this point):
Hamamelis x intermedia 'Allgold' and Hamamelis x intermedia 'Sunburst'
I based my conclusions on the fact that my blossoms don't seem to have any fragrance and they bloomed just before the beginning of January (as well as the red centers).
Virginiana is more of an autumn bloomer and most of the other yellow cultivars have a fragrance.
Still open to other (wiser) thoughts.

H. virginiana is supposed to bloom here September through December, but we sometimes see it flower into early February. That species is not fragrant.

This is a picture of H. virginiana that I took in Nov 2011 in the wild. Yours is certainly a cultivar, I think.

{{gwi:137332}}

esh ga: What about my reddish centers versus the greenish ones in your photo? Would that be a cultivar difference? And why do you think H virginiana rather than one of the H x intermedias? The lack of fragrance?

Yes, lack of fragrance. The red color would have come from the other parent. Even H. x intermedia is supposed to have some fragrance.

I don't believe it's virginiana as the calyx are yellow green as esh ga shows. 'Mohonk' and 'Champlins' have light red flowers. I have a straight species H. virginiana and it is fragrant for about 10 days, in my garden late Sept. to early October. Chris Lane confirms this.

Don't think it's vernalis, as most are fragrant, some very. Are there enough flowers present to get an accurate fragrance assessment?

Mollis are typically the early to mid winter bloomers, with Intermedia's coming next, but there are variations. Both have the reddish calyx varieties like yours. A lot are fragrant, or not, as well.

Intermedia's are usually grafts onto virginiana stock. Does the base have graft indications? Hamamelis rooted cuttings are difficult to get through the first winter.

Do you recall the fall foliage?

'Allgold' is reportedly 'scent faint, but sweet; flowering in mid winter'. Yellow autumn foliage. Petals 20 mm long by 1 mm wide, slightly twisted and crimped, golden yellow. Calyx red-purple, overall effect of deep buttercup-yellow.

'Sunburst' reads 'no scent; flowering mid to late winter'. Also foliage 'suffers from interveinal necrosis on the leaves, some years hardly affected, others more so.' No autumn color. Petals 26 mm long x 2.5 mm wide, fairly straight, slightly crimped, yellow, calyx light claret-red, overall a clear pale yellow.

Wow. Thank you so much, paula in pa. I can't go outside to measure the petals right now (back went into spasm just 5 minutes ago, so I'm icing as I write this), but there definitely was color in the fall foliage. I think mostly yellow, but maybe a little orange. I believe there are enough flowers to sniff, but since this is my first experience, I could be wrong about that. However I had my nose right up against a small grouping of them.
As soon as I can manage, I'll go outside and measure the petals and check for a grafting site.

I believe it was grafted and the petals are 19 mm long.

Congrats , that narrows the field on graft vs. from seed. It may be one of the common H. x intermedia types, of which there are scads today. I'd wait to see it's form in the years to come to possibly help in ID -

* Upright, horizonal spreading, vase shaped, rounded bush, spreading, weeping .

Other formats help in ID:

Vigour - strong, medium, slow, compact, twiggy, branching

Average size of plant - height and width in metres of plants ten to fifteen years of age (this could be plus or minus 20 percent, depending on growing conditions.

Foliage -measurements of a leaf in millimetres; an average, taken from a leaf of a healthy plant, midway along a shoot of the current season's growth (this could be plus or minus 20 percent, depending on growing conditions)

Leaf shape - broadly elliptic, obovate, orbicular, orbicular-obovate, ovate-orbicular

Leaf colour - young foliage, mature foliage, and autumn colour

Flowers - average petal size in millimetres (this can be plus or minus 10 percent depending on growing conditions), shape of petal, petal colour, calyx colour, overall colour effect (calyx colour has an effect on overall colour), fragrance, and flowering period depending on locale. Flower colour is relative and very difficult to be precise. *

You may have better luck in tracking down the supplier at the plant sale.

Here is a link that might be useful: * Source

Thanks so much paula in pa! It may sound weird, but this detective work--the subtlety and complexity of it--is fun. And thanks also for the book recommendation. I've ordered it on inter-library loan (though I'm thinking I may "need" my own copy.