If glassware has made talk show host Oprah Winfrey's "O List," you can bet your holiday feast it's an important element for tables set for this season's festive gatherings.
A six-piece set of Vietri cordial glasses, selling for $132, was given the media star's stamp of approval as one of her holiday favorites in the January edition of her magazine. Long gone are Oprah's suggested T-shirt sheets and PJs. This season, it's all about glasses.
But whether they're Oprah's favorite cordial glasses or your mother's hand-me-down water goblets, setting the table with stylish glassware when entertaining is as important as what you serve.
"I usually set a pretty formal table for Christmas, and I use about three types of glasses at each setting. I have pieces going back to my great-grandmother's collection. She had a ton of crystal flutes that I still use during special times," said Cindy Sandler of Toledo at a recent Waterford Crystal trunk show at Dillard's Westgate.
Lydia Schafer of Ottawa Hills believes in making family and friends feel special with what she calls her "funky chic" goblets. "I was raised with a very classical entertaining background. My mother always set a perfect European table - to mess it up with food [and beverages] was almost a sin," said Dr. Schafer, who inherited her mother's traditional fine-crystal glassware.
"Today, I think entertaining is more comfortable - it's taken on a whole new flavor. That's why I love serving in glasses that are chic and funky.
"I had no problem inheriting more formal crystal glassware - I think everyone should have a traditional set of at least a set of 12 - but generally speaking, we like seasonal or themed glasses that make people feel special," said Dr. Schafer.
Dr. Schafer said she indulges in buying Halloween and holiday glassware, and pieces painted by hand by artisans.
When her children are ill, she says, "I bring them that special glass to make the medicine go down a little better."
Ann Reams, who recently bought six decorative gold holiday wine glasses at Pier I Imports, said that for her, glassware is one of the most important components of setting the table.
"I'm having a few friends over this year, and we'll be toasting in the New Year. I don't like champagne, so I always serve wine, and I love buying new glasses each year. These are perfect," said Mrs. Reams, looking at her new finds. "Because they look festive and they're cheap."
And for those new hosts and hostesses who may not be able to tell a highball glass from an old-fashioned, a brandy snifter from a champagne flute: Don't fret.
Glassware experts say the strict rules of appropriateness are slowly yielding to a more as-you-like-it approach to the type of glasses you place on your table, and what you serve in them. "The lines have been blurred.
Customers now buy what they like and what's pleasing to them instead of what they should serve," said Cathy Ward, store manager at the Libbey Glass Factory Outlet store in the Erie Street Market.
So don't be surprised, she said, to see champagne served in fancy wine glasses instead of the tall, slender conventional flute at some trendy homes.
Still, diehard wine-lovers call for the appropriate glass for their reds and whites, said Marsha Wilcox, manager of the Vineyard, a wine shop located in the Westgate Village shopping center.
"For the true traditional wine lover, there's the right wine in the right glass. There are glasses specific to each wine and designed as such due to the taste, the nose, the swirling," she said, adding that the store sells Riedel fine glassware, known for its beverage-specific glasses.
There's nothing wrong with tradition, and those who own the good stuff love to polish up their finest Kosta Boda or Orrefors crystal pulled-stem wine glasses and flutes when setting a festive, formal table.
"And that's fine, but today's customer wants less traditional and fancy-cut crystal than in the past," said Juliana Lawrence, a spokeswoman for Waterford Crystal who was in town recently at Dillard's Westgate home store.
Waterford is known for fine crystal, including glassware, tooled by second-and third-generation artisans.
We asked experts about the hottest glassware choices for the season.
In the Toledo area, said Ms. Ward at Libbey, it's gold-rimmed glasses of all styles and the decorative rock, or double old-fashioned glass, that will be seen at holiday parties. This style of glass is appropriate for serving liqueurs and brandies - popular holiday drinks.
Many others are singing the blues - as in cobalt glass. "Cobalt sales are always steady, but this year it's been growing. People want cobalt glasses for the holiday, which look nice with white dinnerware," Ms. Ward suggested.
According to Ms. Lawrence at Waterford, silver or platinum-rimmed crystal, cobalt, and other colors of glass are very popular, especially in the more streamlined and less-fanciful designs. "People now want a simple look in crystal, and less angles and grooves and cuts," she added.
For less formal dining gatherings, etiquette guru Martha Stewart suggests her $22 holiday tumblers with snowflake detailing or in red and white checks, available online offered with snowflake detailing. Ms. Stewart's line also includes collectible pressed glass, including faceted pitchers in green or pink glass.
Cooking and entertaining guru B. Smith advises shoppers looking for holiday glassware to think of how they would serve seasonal drinks such as mulled cider, hot buttered rum, wine, and champagne cocktails and punch.
Before venturing out to purchase holiday glasses, it's important to recognize the difference between glass and crystal. Glass, made primarily of sand or silica, is less expensive to produce than crystal, which has a similar composition but also contains lead, giving it brilliance, clarity, and weight - and a higher price tag.
First Published December 20, 2000, 1:59 p.m.