I've only had my road bike a week now, and am new to clipless pedals, but I have ridden a hybrid bike for a while. After only a few rides with clipless pedals I can tell a huge difference between them and the platform pedals that are on my hybrid. Actually, I have Look clipless pedals on my road bike, and haven't had any issues (yet) with unclipping or anything like that.

So I would say, get some shoes for Xmas and I think once you get used to them, you will like them better than the platform pedals. Hope that helps!