Thank you so much for all of the feedback! This really is a toughie!
Rebecca, the book might be a good idea, but I have to find one with mostly pictures (not a lot of words) since I think that reading/writing is very difficult for him (my Grandma always does the household paperwork...and manages to spell my name wrong every time God bless her). I could probably find a coffee table type book about Pope John Paul II (Poland's unofficial national here
)
I don't think that the board game would work - too foreign for him, he hasn't really naturalized at all, other than TV.
oh2bthintoo, the hamper is such a cute idea!! I would love to be able to do that, but they are literally 1 block away from a Polish deli. I'll have to keep that in mind for family that is a bit more removed from the deli scene or a reverse basket (American food) for the study-abroad relative in Poland right now!
Kori, the gardening ideas would be lovely if he was a typical gardener. He's more of a cowboy gardener - trimmings of this, apple seeds sent from Poland, etc. Now that I think of that, it makes me appreciate how amazing they both are. No education in any of that, never a trip to a garden center, odd methodologies (i.e. putting a portable radio in a walnut tree to scare the squirrels away) and they have the Garden of Eden in their tiny backyard in suburban Chicagoland.
PhotoChick, great minds think a like, we've already gotten them a family portrait for the Grandparents 50th Wedding Anniversary.
Gosh, this is soooooo tough!