It just so happens that I do most of my gift-buying in the winter months. The holiday season, combined with my birthday in November, and my parents' birthdays in December and January make the turn of the year a gift-intensive time in my life. In the last month, however, I've found myself with more gift-giving occasions than usual. Some of this recent gift-buying has even been—I admit unabashedly—for myself.

Waterford Mondavi Chardonnay Pair

I will start out unselfishly, though, and discuss my selection for the most prominent recent gift-giving holiday—Mother's Day. As I've mentioned before, it's something of a tradition in Saundra's family to collect Waterford Crystal. In effort to continue this tradition, I decided last December to pick out some Waterford wineglasses for Saundra that would be modern, high-end, but would not break my budget. For this reason, I elected to move a step up from Waterford Vintage, but not so pricy as the Connoisseur Gold, which at $99 for each pair of glasses would have meant my buying no other Christmas presents for Saundra. Luckily, Waterford offers an in-between collection of wine glasses, designed by Robert Mondavi to suit specific varietals. And so, I bought Saundra a pair of Waterford Mondavi Chardonnay glasses—Saundra being, after all, a long-time fan of chardonnay. Lest I give the impression that Saundra's wine tastes are narrow, let me assure you that she is also a great devotee to pinot noir, and so for her birthday in January, I bought Saundra a Waterford Mondavi Pinot Noir pair. By this time you're probably thinking, "I know, I know, Mondavi Champagne Flutes for Mother's Day, right?"

Lenox Tuscany Classics Tulip White Wine

Well, perhaps one day Saundra will find some Mondavi Champagne Flutes under the Mother's Day wrapping paper, but since January I've noticed a disturbing trend. Saundra has not used her Mondavi glasses. When confronted with these cold hard facts, Saundra confesses to her un-use of the Waterford Mondavi, and explains that she experiences trepidation at the thought of using the Waterford glasses with anyone except me, for fear of breaking them. I tell Saundra to use them anyway; Saundra continues to experience trepidation. And so, with Mother's Day approaching, I did not want to buy Saundra more wine glasses that she would be loath to use. In the hopes that she might be less wary of breaking $10 apiece crystal glasses than $25 glasses, I decided on the Lenox Tuscany Classics Tulip White Wine. I have long admired the elegance of the Tuscany Tulip Whites, but being a red wine drinker, I could never justify buying them for myself. However, Saundra is a white wine drinker and these gorgeous glasses were the perfect fit. The long Tuscany stem is perhaps at its best with these tall and slender glasses, and they rival the Waterford Mondavi glasses in luminosity standing side-by-side in Saundra's china closet. The only tricky thing about the Lenox Tulip Whites is that Amazon stocks them irregularly. At the time I wanted to purchase the glasses, they were out of stock at Amazon, so I had to go downtown to pick them up at Macy's. A week or so after I bought them, they were back in stock at Amazon, but last I checked, they were out of stock once again. Here's hoping Amazon brings back these glasses as regular stock.

Lenox Tuscany Classics Double Old Fashioned

While at Macy's buying the Tulip Whites, I found myself with yet another gift-giving occasion on the horizon, and thus the opportunity to pick up another set of Lenox glasses—but this time it was a set not regularly stocked by Amazon. At the end of April, my dear friend Sabrina graduated with her Master's degree, and this after having a birthday in early April. While before this time, Sabrina and I have been on a strictly booze-buying basis for birthdays, I felt that the birthday/graduation combination merited a gift of somewhat greater permanence. Seeing as that Sabrina and I have long been united by our mutual love of whiskey, I opted for the Lenox Tuscany Classics Double Old-Fashioned glasses. One of the things I like about these glasses is the thick base—it just seems to me that whiskey glasses ought to have a chunky base. As an added bonus, these glasses have a four-toed base design, allowing the base to capture more light. Sabrina's assessment is more intuitive—she contends that drinking from the Lenox makes her feel like, quote, "a real person." In the weeks since I gave her the glasses, Sabrina has also been inspired to make the Tuscany whiskey glasses the seed of her trousseau. She even let me—in a moment of boredom in the wake of media empire technical difficulties—help her to set up a preliminary registry with other glasses from the same collection. Hence the fifty percent nationwide increase in single gal registries last week.

Lenox Tuscany Classics Martini

Speaking of trousseaus... I've been covetous of one particular item in my cousin Jennifer's budding trousseau—last fall I bought her and her fiancé a set of Lenox Tuscany Martini glasses as an engagement gift. The Lenox Martini glasses may just be the crown jewel of Tuscany collection. Tall and gorgeous, these martinis are unique in their fluted shape. I've been wanting a set of my own ever since, and so when my own Master's graduation rolled around this May, the Tuscany Classics Martinis were at the top of my splurge list. Along with the Lenox Martinis, I decided to treat myself to another item of crystal glassware I've been wanting for some time. Lest my dedicated readers get sick of hearing "Tuscany, Tuscany, Tuscany..." let me assure you that my stemware tastes are diverse. One of my favorite glassware makers overall is Riedel. Last fall, I decided to invest in some non-leaded crystal for everyday sipping—while the danger of leaded crystal is negligible, I figure that avoiding the use of full lead crystal every single day of one's life may be wise. Plus it gives me a good excuse to diversify my glassware collection. My initial search for non-leaded crystal ended last September in a purchase of Riedel Wine Cabernet glasses, and I have been using them on a near-daily basis ever since. What's great about the Wine line of stemware?

Riedel Wine Series Water Glasses

Well, it's a less expensive and non-leaded version (at least in terms of bowl-shape) of the popular Riedel Vinum series, so I get a glass tailor-made by foremost wine experts for the enjoyment of my favorite varietal. The bowl still has a crystal "ring" when clinked, even though it's non-leaded, and the lightweight feel is a pleasant alternative on occasion to the heavier-weight full lead crystals in my collection. The art-deco inspired stems—the most elaborately decorated offerings from the aesthetic minimalists at Riedel—are pretty, though I tend to prefer a stem that is tall and smooth (ahem, Tuscany). As a result, I'm largely satisfied to enjoy my Riedel Wine Cabernet glasses on a daily basis without going into crazy collector mode like I do with Tuscany. However, I did find myself with a hankering for a non-leaded water glass to go with my non-leaded wine glasses in everyday use—or perhaps this is because there's just something I find terribly pleasing about the Riedel water glass. Call me crazy, but I love the novelty of its rounded wineglass bottom with the squared-off top in profile. And so, second on my splurge list this spring was the Riedel Wine Water glasses.

My splurging might have stopped there (and my wallet would probably argue that it ought to have done so), but when in the course of wineglass shopping I paid a visit to Riedel.com, I discovered the wine glasses of my dreams. One of Riedel's Spring 2007 introductions has thoroughly entranced me, satisfying all my desires for a higher-end (i.e. something a bit swankier than Tuscany) wine glass. They are so amazing, in fact, that in a few days they will get a blog all their own.