Speaking to the New York Times over the weekend, WGA strike coordinator Jeff Hermanson said the guild would position strikers along the sidewalks around the Beverly Hilton Hotel. "If the Globes is telecast and it is produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is a struck company, we will picket the show," Hermanson said.

Such actions, of course, would likely prevent A-listers from attending, concerned that an appearance might garner them negative publicity as strikebusters. Publicists for many stars say their clients have already signaled they wouldn't turn out for any struck productions. Further complicating matters is the Screen Actors Guild's own potential work action against networks and studios. SAG's current deal expires in June, and actors have threatened to follow the WGA and strike if their demands for a larger share of payments related to new-media growth are not met.

The Times quoted several unnamed insiders saying the Foreign Press Association has begun exploring ways to ensure nominees such as Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Keira Knightley, Denzel Washington, Katherine Heigl and George Clooney make the scene without incurring any sort of public backlash or embarrassment. Among the ideas bandied about: nixing the dinner and trophy fest in favor of a Webcast or a private affair, the organization's first since 1979.

As the Bush presidency winds down, the Bush Out of Office Countdown 2008 desk calendar ($11.99) is winding up as the No. 2 humor calendar (behind The Far Side Scared Silly 2008 Wall Calendar) for the new year, according to Calendars.com, the largest purveyor of calendars online and at retail kiosks.

"They're edgy and a way to mark the days, so it's a perfect tie-in," says Hillel Levin, general manager at Calendars.com. "The intensity of dislike (for Bush) is driving these sales."

These poking-fun-at-the-prez calendars were popular last year, but they're even bigger for 2008 - and there are more of them than ever.

"It's become a category unto itself," Levin says. There were no such calendars for other recent presidents - say, Bill Clinton or Bush's father, George H.W. Bush. "This is a new phenomenon."

"Young men these days grew up with character goods," said a spokesman. "That generation feels no embarrassment about wearing Hello Kitty." The for-men products will go on sale in Japan next month, and will be sold soon in the US and other Asian nations.

The shape of Hello Kitty was slightly changed for a more rugged, cool look to appeal to men in their teens and early 20s, Sanrio said. For example, a picture of the cat on a 4,095 yen ($36, £18) black T-shirt has the words, "hello kitty", instead of the usual dots for the eyes and nose The move comes as sales of Hello Kitty-related merchandise have been slipping. To boost sales, Sanrio has also recently launched a slightly raunchy range where Hello Kitty cheekily displays her knickers.

Color cosmetics is such a strong category right now, with market researcher The NPD Group reporting makeup leading the prestige beauty category for the first three quarters of this year -- and enjoying a 5 percent increase in sales from last year. Growth will continue, Wells says, as fashion also delves into candy and sherbet shades for spring.

She expects women will be drawn to noticeable, not neutral, hues, including red matte lips and more color on the eye than we're used to seeing. "The colors sound intimidating -- purple, orange, a peachy-yellow -- but they will look really good. It'll be a sheer hint that gives you warmth," she says. If you do go with the more pigmented eye shadows, Wells recommends a delicate rose color on the cheeks and lips. If you wear the bright red lips, tone down the eye makeup. "You don't want a lot of color on the rest of your face; that would be clownish."

Department-store operator Macy's Inc. on Friday said it will shutter nine underperforming stores, which collectively employ nearly 900 staffers, the latest indication of a weak retail environment. The department stores are in Indiana, Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah and were all acquired when Macy's bought department-store operator May Co. in 2005.

Macy's integration of May Co. department stores has been bumpy. The company has faced disappointing sales and resistance from shoppers in some markets where the Macy's name replaced local favorites it absorbed as part of the May acquisition. Further, a weak housing market, persistent credit problems and high food and gasoline prices are curbing U.S. consumers' discretionary spending.

"While the decision to close stores is difficult, it is necessary that we do so selectively in locations with declining sales and where we have been unable to identify sufficient growth opportunities," said Terry J. Lundgren, company chairman, president and chief executive.

To combat this, she has become a fan of a 200 pound-a-time treatment extracted from the eggs of Baerii sturgeon, reared on farms in the South of France. In sessions lasting up to three hours, Brad Pitt's other half is swaddled like a mummy to sweat out toxins before being smothered all over in the body cream. It promises to 'drench the skin with moisture and nourishment' and combat 'loss of firmness and slackened skin'.

Because of the high oil and protein content of caviar, it is thought to be especially moisturising. The fish smell is removed as extracts of caviar are used instead of whole roe. She has also been indulging in 90-minute facials using La Prairie's caviar-based creams.

Miss Jolie became a fan of the treatments earlier this year in Venice, after discovering them at the Hotel Cipriani's Casanova spa centre. Sir Mick Jagger, Gwyneth Paltrow, Stella McCartney and Kate Moss are also devotees of caviar facials, while Catherine Zeta Jones has been smearing the stuff on her hair to add instant gloss. The caviar-based creams are produced by extracting vitelline - or yolk sac - from the sturgeon eggs. The substance contains phospholipids, which are fats key to hydrating and softening the skin, as well as proteins said to contribute to the regeneration of skin cells.

Self-published authors sneak their works into the new releases section, while personal trainers put their business cards into weight-loss books, and aspiring professional photographers make homemade cards — their Web site address included, of course — and covertly plant them into stationery-store racks. "Everyone else is pushing their product, so why shouldn't we?" said Jeff Eyrich, a producer for several independent bands, who puts stacks of his bands' CDs -- marked "free" -- on music racks at Starbucks whenever the cashiers look away.

Though not new, shopdropping has grown in popularity in recent years, especially as artists have gathered to swap tactics at Web sites like Shopdropping.net, and groups like the Anti-Advertising Agency, a political art collective, do training workshops open to the public. Retailers fear the practice may annoy shoppers and raise legal or safety concerns, particularly when it involves children's toys or trademarked products.

*****

Normally the band, the Death of Jason Brody, slips promotional CD singles between the pages of The Village Voice newspaper and into the racks at large music stores. But lately, band members have been slipping into department stores and putting stickers with logos for trendy designers like Diesel, John Varvatos and 7 for All Mankind on their CDs, which they then slip into the pockets of designer jeans or place on counters. "Bloomingdale's and 7 for All Mankind present the Death of Jason Brody, our pick for New York band to watch in 2008," read a sticker on one of the CDs placed near a register at Bloomingdales. "As thanks for trying us on, we're giving you this special holiday gift." Bloomingdales and 7 for All Mankind declined to comment.

*****

"After Easter, there's a wave of bunnies; after Halloween, it's black cats; after Christmas, it's puppies," said Don Cowan, a spokesman for the store chain Petco, which in the month after each of those holidays sees 100 to 150 pets abandoned in its aisles or left after hours in cages in front of stores. Snakes have been left in crates, mice and hamsters surreptitiously dropped in dry aquariums, even a donkey left behind after a store's annual pet talent show, Mr. Cowan said.

Evidence is piling up (like those packages under the tree) that human beings were born to give. Their very physiology makes them do it. Studies show that when a person gives money to a stranger or a charity, the "rewards area" of the brain gets busy. It's the same area that goes to town when the person eats a sugar cookie or finds a parking place at the mall or receives a gift of money from Ed McMahon.

Not only that, but generous people also seem to live longer and stay healthier than those "bah humbug" types, according to population studies. It's even possible (scientists are busy testing this concept now) that the more Christmas spirit shoppers have, the fewer bugs they're likely to catch during the holidays.

Gift-giving, in a nutshell, seems to improve people's health and longevity. It lifts their mood and bolsters their ego. And perhaps most important of all, it makes people beholden to one another, so that when their goose is cooked, they have friends to save their skin. Or so goes the evolutionary theory.

"The most important thing I learned in writing a whole book about human relationships is 'give more gifts,' " says evolutionary biologist Jay Phelan, a life sciences academic administrator at UCLA and co-author of "Mean Genes: From Sex to Money to Food: Taming Our Primal Instincts." A gift doesn't have to be expensive, studies show. It really is the thought that counts -- well, the thought and the pretty wrapping.

The environmentalists are putting retailers on the spot at a delicate time. In the last year, "Do Not Mail" initiatives have been proposed in 15 states. Similar to the federal "Do Not Call" legislation, which bans telemarketers from calling phone numbers on a special opt-out list, the bills have made little progress so far. But the movement appears to be picking up, and bad press from a group like Catalog Choice could tip consumer sentiment.

So on Dec. 17, the DMA held a "catalog summit" at its New York offices to discuss how to fight back. "Activist groups are out there collecting names for petitions and beating the drum," DMA President John A. Greco Jr. told attendees. "We would advise you not to encourage them in any way."

At the meeting, Greco introduced an upgrade to the DMA's own opt-out service, which he recommended his members use exclusively. Like Catalog Choice, the DMA's Mail Preference Service will now let consumers pick which catalogs they do not want to receive by title. But it will require users to submit a credit-card number to verify their identity, and it will cost $1 (the DMA says it will soon remove the fee). It also will have an "opt-in" for consumers to add their names to catalogs' house lists. The hope, says Greco, is to show that direct marketers can regulate themselves.

But this season's sluggish consumer spending means retailers in Southern California are going to unheard-of lengths to make the hassle worth our while. Suddenly, super-deep storewide sales -- 50% to 70% off -- have become as common as Pinkberry outposts, encompassing every tier of retail, from Old Navy to Gucci.

Fliers are cramming our mailboxes, and we're not talking about circulars from Mervyns and Big Lots. The top tier of retail is typically the last to put things on sale or acknowledge in any way that business is less than stellar. But by early December, the sale cards started flying: 30% to 40% off designer collections at Saks Fifth Avenue; 50% off the whole lot at Prada; 10% off Barneys New York's entire inventory; 20% off everything at Trina Turk; and up to 70% off every last camisole at boutiques such as Presse and Elyse Walker.

Other high-end independent boutiques, including Lisa Kline, Jenni Kayne and Kitson, have bombarded their personal mailing lists with notices of special discount days and shopping parties -- breaking out the Champagne in an attempt to make holiday shopping more social than sadomasochistic. And it doesn't end there. Major mall retailers such as H&M are extending their friends-and-family discounts to passing acquaintances and, well, total strangers, via e-mail. Stories of sales clerks offering their personal employee discounts, unsolicited, also abound.

But strangest of all, perhaps, are the rumors of shoppers successfully haggling over prices at higher-end stores -- sharpening their Moroccan bazaar bargaining skills at Macy's (and even Marni?). Proof that retail has gone off the rails is everywhere. Lizzie Crampton, a personal trainer in Santa Monica, was shopping at Banana Republic on the Third Street Promenade last week, when a salesman slipped her a friends-and-family discount postcard for 30% off her entire purchase. "He told me it was only good starting the following day," she said, "and that I should put my things on hold and come back." She gladly did.

With only five left before Christmas, stores and malls are expected to see gift card sales soar even more as procrastinators look for quick gift alternatives for relatives and friends.

Americans are expected to spend $26.3 billion in gift cards this holiday season, up 42 percent from $18.5 billion in 2005, according to the National Retail Federation. About 88 percent of shoppers polled by the National Retail Federation said that they will purchase two or more gift cards this holiday season.

Consumers are snapping them up because they're easy to buy, they're more acceptable gifts these days, and they ensure the recipient gets exactly what he or she wants. They're also becoming more accessible to shoppers. Simon Property Group, the nation's largest mall operator, offers more than 25 card varieties.

Sometimes, in our hoity-toity haste to malign a tradition that is seen as perfectly normal in just about every part of the country west of the Hudson River, we forget the true meaning of Christmas - and, while we're at it, the true meaning of Christmas sweaters. We may not remember that there are real, sophisticated people coming up with ideas for these things at companies like Coldwater Creek, Talbots, Marisa Christina, Quacker Factory and Berek every year, not some committee of demented elves pulling subjects at random from Santa's bag of tricks - i.e., ice-skating penguins, fiber-optic candy canes, halls-decking bunnies and so on.

And we may not consider that there is an art, if not a science, behind the intarsia.

"I truly believe that when you walk into a store and see a holiday sweater on display, it should make you smile," said Ms. McConnell, who oversees a team of about 30 designers and the development of about 3,000 styles sold through more than 300 Coldwater Creek stores across the country, in addition to its catalog and online divisions.

Holiday sweaters represent only a fraction of the company's $1.2 billion in annual sales, about 60 styles altogether, but the new designs are an important reason why customers keep coming back to its stores each year.

*****

The most important thing to remember is to be surprising and new, which is not so easy in a fashion niche with a limited field of stock characters. Holly wreaths are over. Mistletoe is so last year.

6 New York comfort food: Spread cream cheese or creme fraiche on small bagels or bagel chips; black bread is also terrific. Top with sturgeon, sable or lox.

7 Slice soft goat cheese and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and chopped herbs, then with bread crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees until soft, about 10 minutes, and serve hot.

8 Might not be the new ketchup, but great stuff: purée skinned roasted peppers or piquillos with some of their liquid, salt and olive oil. Serve alone or with other foods - a piece of cheese, even.

9 Top buttered bread with shaved country ham, prosciutto or regular deli ham and bread-and-butter pickles.

*****

24 Portable Caprese: Skewer a small ball of mozzarella, a grape tomato and a bit of basil leaf. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and drizzle with oil.

25 A no-brainer: Cut slab of bacon into 1/2-inch chunks. Cook in a skillet, a broiler or a high-heat oven until nice and crisp. Skewer with a grape tomato.

26 Even jazzier: Cut just-ripe pears in 1/2-inch cubes; sprinkle with a little salt, sugar and cayenne. Spear with bacon.

27 Pair crispy bacon chunks with one cube of beet and one of goat cheese.

Cut from silk brocade and embellished with colorful beaded embroidery, and silk taffeta and fox fur frill, Oscar de la Renta's stocking is as elegant and gorgeous as his ultra-chic clothes. At Dolce & Gabbana, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana made naughty much better than nice with their decadent black silk satin stocking with white organza roses and tulle overlay. Badgley Mischka duo Mark Badgley and James Mischka were inspired by one of their lavish gowns - their extravagant design features bustled dove-gray duchesse silk satin tied with a grand bow. Animal lover Stella McCartney decorated her delightful wool and cashmere charmer with felted polar bear appliqués, and sprinkled on lots of festive sequins and Swarovski crystals. Bigger is better for Josie Natori, whose glamorous, oversize quilted silk charmeuse stocking is decorated with ornate Asian-inspired floral embroidery. As for Anthropologie's giant whimsical knitted sock - it's 54 inches tall - the store's playful designers worked in everything but the kitchen sink. (Wool sweater scraps, bamboo knitting needles, vintage silver spoons, pipe cleaners, wire, buttons, snaps and pom-poms are only a few of the accoutrements.) Featuring a detachable wool cuckoo "clock" (sorry, it's for decoration only), the stocking is the epitome of over-the-top holiday whimsy.

A team of designers at Saks Fifth Avenue envisioned "a piece of modern art" and hired a renowned graphic artist to create it. Their counterparts at Lord & Taylor demanded five prototypes, even traveling to a Korean factory to oversee manufacturing. Over at Bergdorf Goodman, staff members held secretive deliberations that stretched late into the night for nine months. The focus of all this scurrying was not this fall's couture line or next spring's resort collection. It was shopping bags.

Once a flimsy afterthought in American retailing - used to lug a purchase home from the store, then tossed into the trash - the lowly, free store bag is undergoing a luxurious makeover. From upscale emporiums to midprice chains, retailers are engaged in a heated competition to make the most durable, fashionable shopping bags. They are investing millions of dollars in new flourishes like plastic-coated paper (Macy's and Juicy Couture) and heavy fabric cord handles (Abercrombie & Fitch and Scoop).

Behind the battle of the bags is a significant shift in behavior that has turned consumers into walking billboards for stores. In cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, customers have begun treating shopping bags as disposable purses that can be reused for weeks, if not months, to carry laundry to the cleaners, books to the beach or lunch to the office. But only the best bags make the cut. So stores, sensing a marketing opportunity, are racing to transform bare-bones bags into lavish, thick ones that will become free advertising. "It's an unspoken goal," said Terron E. Schaefer, senior vice president for marketing at Saks, which just redesigned its bags to be sleeker and heftier. "We want people to keep the bag."

• FedEx: Saturday, December 22, 2007, is the last day to ship in time for Christmas arrival.
  
  
• U.S. Postal Service: Today is the last day to send domestic mail for arrival before Christmas. Express Mail sent by Saturday is guaranteed to arrive by Christmas (Express Mail will be delivered on Christmas Day).
  
  
• Amazon.com: Today is the deadline for free shipping for most orders of $25 or more. Tuesday is the deadline for standard shipping orders to arrive by Christmas Day. Last day for expedited shipping to arrive by Christmas is Saturday, December 22, 2007.
  
  
• ToysRUs.com: Free shipping ends on Tuesday, December 18, 2007, for purchases over $49.
  
  
• Bestbuy.com: If you place a qualifying order (meaning an in-stock item) by 11 a.m. ET on Thursday, December 20, using Standard or Expedited shipping, or by 11 a.m. ET on Friday, December 21, using Express shipping, Best Buy guarantees that it will attempt delivery on or by December 24th. If the package does not arrive on time, customers will receive a $10 or $20 Best Buy digital coupon.
  
  
• L.L. Bean: Last day for free shipping to US addresses is noon EST on December 21, 2007.
  
  
• Landsend.com: Standard shipping for Christmas ends at midnight ET Wednesday, December 19, 2007.

From high-end dresses to bargain coats, spending on women's apparel dropped nearly 6 percent during the first half of the Christmas season, compared with the same period last year, according to MasterCard Advisors, a division of the credit card company. Analysts blamed a rough economy, which has discouraged women - and mothers, in particular - from splurging on clothing for themselves and a lack of compelling fashions this winter.

The drop-off, which the credit card company described Sunday as "surprising," bodes poorly for chains like Chico's FAS and Ann Taylor, which specialize in women's clothing, and could result in steeper-than-expected discounts on their merchandise in the final week before Christmas. The slowdown is worrisome because women make the vast majority of purchases in retailing, and their spending is a closely watched barometer of the industry's health. In contrast, sales of men's clothing rose 4.5 percent during the first 20 days of the season, MasterCard Advisors said.

The credit card company issued on Sunday a midseason snapshot of the crucial holiday season, compiled between Nov. 23, known as Black Friday, and Dec. 12. The numbers in its SpendingPulse report are based on the purchases of its more than 300 million American cardholders and estimates of broader consumer spending through cash and checks. In its survey, MasterCard, which like many in the retail industry closely monitors sales trends, found that online spending had surged about 30 percent, well above the average growth this year. "If there is a star this year, it's e-commerce," said Michael McNamara, vice president for research and analysis at MasterCard Advisors.

Slowly, inexorably, Christmas music worked its way back into the pop landscape until it finally reached a pervasive saturation unmatched since its heyday of '50s holidays with Coca-Cola magazine advertisements, specially decorated cartons of cigarettes and Perry Como TV specials. Even before Thanksgiving, stores and malls are now filled with twinkly, tinkly versions of "Winter Wonderland" and "Sleigh Ride." Father Guido Sarducci suggests an every-other-year moratorium on playing "Little Drummer Boy."

"I'm still sick of it from last year," he says on his protest Christmas record, "One Hundred Bulbs on the Christmas Tree Party."

A amazing parade of willing doofuses provides a steady stream of new Christmas records, without a trace of irony, wit or redemptive attribute of any sort - pure cashing in. Do you think there is any other possible explanation for a two-CD set of Christmas songs by Toby Keith?

**

Nobody makes a Christmas album unless they already have a following. It is seen as a way to extend the brand. Sooner or later, everybody who lasts long enough in the record business makes a Christmas record: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Elton John, the Kinks, Queen, Bruce Springsteen, Jimi Hendrix, Linda Ronstadt. Even hip, edgy rock acts you might think would be immune: R.E.M., the Pretenders, U2, the Ramones, Rufus Wainwright.

Shoppers across the country have similar stories. With the Wii, Nintendo has created a phenomenon that recalls crazes of Christmases past: Cabbage Patch dolls, Furby, Tickle Me Elmo. But in this case it is happening for a second consecutive holiday season. Nintendo has been unable to keep up with demand, costing it hundreds of millions of dollars in potential sales.

The Wii, with an unusual remote control that players wave to manipulate action on the screen, has attracted a broad, unconventional following - from young children to mothers and even the elderly. It has put to shame the frenzy over another much-hyped gadget, the iPhone, which prompted long lines at its debut in June but was readily available on store shelves the next day.

The demand for the console has prompted creative buying strategies, early-morning camp outs and recrimination against Nintendo for failing to produce enough machines a full year after the product's release.

Jim Silver, editor in chief of Toy Wishes magazine and an industry analyst for 24 years, said it was unusual for an in-demand product to remain so hard to find for so long. The must-have toys of other holiday seasons, like Furby, stayed popular into a second year but became easily available.

"It's pretty amazing," Mr. Silver said. "By a year later with hot items, inventory usually catches up."

The Wii is more expensive than those other toys - $250 - and is attracting not just eager-to-please parents but also adults like Ms. Beattie who want it just for themselves. "I know 6-year-olds that love it and 50-year-olds that love it," Mr. Silver said.

According to Fils-Aime, Wiis will be available next week at all major retailers. If past patterns are any indication, however, that "availability" will be limited to shoppers willing to camp out before stores open on Sunday or Monday morning. Since Christmas is just two weeks away, you're probably still going to have some difficulty finding a Wii.

While that seems to be the biggest hope for Christmas Wiis, Reggie also announced a raincheck program in conjunction with GamesStop to get more Wiis out to shoppers in January. Even if Wiis are out of stock, on December 20 and 21, consumers will be able to purchase them for January.

On those two days, if you put down the full retail price of the Wii at a GameStop, you'll receive a raincheck guaranteeing you a Wii in January. The rainchecks will be available only as supplies last, but Fils-Aime said GameStop has "many tens of thousands" of rainchecks available across its 3,000+ stores. Perhaps the Wii-hungry will be camping out next week to get a raincheck for a Wii next month. We'll find out by next Friday.