But while commercial garbage handlers struggle with their holiday hangover, plenty of creative types see Christmas -- with all its packaging, wrapping and other gifting byproducts -- as the perfect time to advance artistic and environmental causes. With less monetary incentive to recycle trash, there is plenty to pick through despite this season's shortened shopping lists.

Carol Tanzi is particularly interested in ExpandOS, a packaging material. The interior designer from Burlingame, Calif., has been commissioned to produce 45 eco-friendly centerpieces for a fund-raising gala scheduled in San Francisco in February. Designed by a Denver firm, ExpandOS are miniature cardboard wedges made of recycled paper and used instead of bubble wrap or spongy packaging peanuts.

"They are quite interesting to look at," said Ms. Tanzi, who signs some of her emails "Goddess of Garbage." The stiff cardboard strips with their Swiss cheese-like perforations will work perfectly as holders for the votive candles she plans to use. She herself trolls the curbs, but also has a network of family and friends who know what to look for.

*****

Ingrid Goldbloom Bloch, an artist in Massachusetts, looks for Coke cans and washing-machine-hose clamps, weaving pieces into garters. The red and silver garter is one of 13 items in her line of trashy lingerie, which also employs old dryer vents and, in her homage to the Wonderbra, welded steel.

A new president's first foray into the social scene in the capital can be heavy with symbolism, a hint of how the first couple plan to engage with unofficial Washington. Failing to do so could mean missing an opportunity to meet the press, make bipartisan overtures and advance the White House political agenda, as other presidents have discovered.

Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, arrived in the capital in 1977 determined not to socialize with the insider crowd, a stance that rankled Democrats in Washington. "The Carters made the vow that they would never get tangled up in Georgetown dinner parties, and indeed they did not," said Diana McLellan, the author and onetime Washington gossip columnist. "They alienated their base, and it created a huge dislike of Carter. It was catastrophic."

Quickly after arriving in Washington after his election in 1980, Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, enthusiastically made the social rounds, even giving a bipartisan dinner party at the (now-defunct) F Street Club. Mrs. Reagan's social secretary Muffie Brandon Cabot regularly arranged luncheons at private homes so that Mrs. Reagan could make friends. "We were not going to be like the Carters," Michael Deaver, a top Reagan aide who died in 2007, told The Washington Post in 1992.

Chanel on Friday said it would pull the plug on its costly Mobile Art exhibition that was slated to travel to major cities worldwide in a Space-Age pre-fab structure by architect Zaha Hadid. The decision comes amid snowballing bad economic news and Wall Street scandals and reflects a new sobriety for luxurious endeavors.

"Considering the current economic crisis, we decided it was best to stop the project," said a Chanel spokeswoman. "We will be concentrating on strategic growth investments." Conceived by Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld with Hadid, the Mobile Art exhibition was one of the most ambitious art-meets-fashion cohabitations embraced by the luxury and fashion worlds.

Chanel planned to use Hadid's building to accrue brand equity by displaying artworks inspired by Chanel's 2.55 quilted, chain-strap handbag. Twenty contemporary artists agreed to participate in the exercise, including Daniel Buren, Sylvie Fleury, Yoko Ono and Wim Delvoye.

One of the new collections, the "P.S. Happy Holidays" watch collection, is primed just in time for the upcoming season and includes 11 different offerings, with six images from the U.S. Postal Service's holiday series. Among the watches are images of Kenneth Libbrecht's "Ontario and Alaska Snowflakes," Ethel Kessler's "Celebrate!," Sandro Botticelli's "Virgin and Child with the Young John the Baptist," and Derry Noyes' "Nutcrackers."

The second collection, "P.S. I Love You," features wristwatches, precious metal jewelry, decorative wall clocks and fine bone china gift sets with images from some of the world's most treasured expressions of love. In total, the collection features 24 different offerings and 10 stamp art images, including Robert Indiana's famous "Love" sculpture, President John Adams' "Love Letters to his wife Abigail" and Paul Zwolak's "All Heart."

"When you have a budget, you have to think, 'What's going to make the biggest impact with the least amount of money?'" he explained. For my party, for example, he decided on a "winter wonderland theme." This was not simple nostalgia for the days before global warming wiped out the holiday sleigh ride. Rather, he chose it because winter is white, and white is cheap.

"There are so many utilitarian items that are in white," he said, informing me of our shopping list for that Thursday, two days before the party: a roll of quilting batting ($12.99), for instance, to use as a tablecloth; a 500-sheet bundle of copy paper ($4.89), which he planned to use to make delicate paper snowflake cutouts to suspend from my living room ceiling with fishing line. Cover them with glitter and dim the lights and they might as well be Steuben crystal.

Watching Mr. Monn reinvent the humble wares of Kmart was like seeing Gabriel García Marquez channel Martha Stewart. He showed a magic-realist's ability to stare down endless aisles of Crock-Pots, diapers and circular saws, and conjure an ice palace of czarist proportions.

Still, with only about $100 to spend on groceries, he said, we would have to keep things simple. For dinner, we would start with a pureed-chestnut soup. Perked up by a half-cup of heavy cream and a cup of Sauternes, that didn't sound too austere, I thought, even if the ingredients were inexpensive.

On a tight budget, we couldn't afford cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery down the street for dessert. Instead, Mr. Monn said, we would make do with an angel food cake from Food Emporium ($4.29). Slather it in store-bought frosting and dried coconut shavings, however, and who would know the difference? And for the main course, he said, we would have potatoes.

"Having something shown at the Louvre is about as good as you can get," said Dow, who lives in Los Angeles, "especially when it's a juried show like this where there's a panel of judges who pick the pieces to be in the exhibition. I'm a little humbled by the whole thing but grateful nonetheless."

Dow, who has also worked as a director and visual effects producer on several TV shows, has been painting and sculpting since he was a teenager. The 63-year-old artist's sculpture that will be shown at the Louvre from Dec. 11 to Dec. 14 is titled "Unarmed Warrior," and is a bronze figure of a woman holding a shield.

"Of course, I'm really proud of 'Leave It to Beaver' and my directing career in television," said Dow. "Those are great accomplishments. I'm really proud of them, but this is interesting because I don't think they know anything about that at the Louvre."

A stunningly beautiful 2,000-year-old gold earring inlaid with pearls and precious gems is the latest discovery in Jerusalem's archaeological treasure trove, the City of David. The ancient jewelry was discovered during an excavation by the Israel Antiquities Authority in the Giva'ti car park, specifically in the "Walls Around Jerusalem National Park" area. The excavations, which are being carried out jointly with the Nature and Parks Authority, are underwritten by the Ir David [City of David] Foundation, which has been responsible for numerous priceless discoveries in the area.

*****

The main part of the earring is made of a coiled gold hoop encircling a large inlaid pearl nestled in its center. Dangling from the bottom of the hoop are two identical gold pendants, each of which is adorned with a small chain whose links are comprised of one emerald and pearl, held in place by golden fastenings.

"The earring was astonishingly well preserved, so much so that it seems it was manufactured only yesterday," commented the directors of the excavation on behalf of IAA, Dr. Doron Ben-Ami and Yana Tchekhanovets. The two experts added that the piece, which was discovered in the ruins of a building which dates to the Byzantine period (4-5 CE on the Gregorian calendar), may have been produced earlier.

The lovely earring was "apparently originally produced during the course of the Roman period (between the first century BCE and the beginning of 4 CE). Gold jewelry inlaid with precious stones and pearls were used throughout the Roman Empire – from the Roman provinces in the east to Britain in the West," they explained.

Bonhams' book specialist Luke Batterham told BBC News the Pooh stories are timeless because they are not "laden with morality like many childrens' tales".

He said: "The illustrations are essential. Visually, that's what is kept in people's imaginations.

"The images are constantly in the public's mind because of all the spin-offs, but you can't beat the original drawings."

He added that the original books have "outlived" and "defeated" the Disney versions of the story.