Hi
Normal is hard to define, it really depends on how you're structuring the release of your transports.
Like you say you have a transport required for this year and then another for next year.
I'm assuming you have a QA environment to test with, ensure that Transports 1 gets to QA successfully and is tested fully. Transport 2 should wait until Transport 1 is successfully implement in Production before sending to QA.
Regards
Arden