Naples pizza in New Haven was great, but is long gone…
@mcat - DS has been dating his GF for almost 2 years… We have met her, she has stayed at our house before and he has gone on vacation with her and her parents and he is going to visit her parents for part of winter break. We are not buying her a Christmas gift. I highly doubt that she would expect one. IF she was here for Christmas that would be different. I don’t think you need to buy a gift. If your wife wants to send chocolate let her and leave it at that. I think you are worrying too much about the whole thing.
It is correct. We only set up Christmas tree when our child was very young (for his “holiday fun” only.)
An interesting story: When he was a little bit older, we asked him whether we would set up a (small plastic) Christmas tree for this Christmas. His reply: No. Doing so would waste the space in our living room. He always said both of his parents are very practical. (e.g., the first time we bought flowers was for his high school Prom date – the flowers on a corage?)
@cbreeze, It was a promise to our son. I heard of this when she said this to him (but since I did not say otherwise, I signed up on it as well.)
@MichiganGeorgia, Thanks.
I actually thought this treat may be good, but have not located the place to buy it on the south bay area (i.e. Silicon Valley):
http://www.libertyorchards.com/category/Aplets_and_Cotlets
The reason is that our family used to like it very much. (For some reason, the local grocery store, Fred Meyers, carried it at that time – exactly that brand, when DS was very young. After we had moved, we even mail-ordered it for several years.) DS could share his childhood favorite treat with her.
Also, @thumper1, Thanks for giving me a chance to learn this word: Boondocks.
I need to look it up before I know its meaning:
The boondocks is an American expression that stems from the Tagalog word bundok. It originally referred to a remote rural area,[1] but now it is often applied to an out-of-the-way city or town considered backwards and unsophisticated.
Someone suggested an AMEX card. I’ve gotten those in the past.
To clarify, my son has one joint card with me. We started this tradition back when he had little credit. I would get a call from Apple Store if I approved a big purchase. Son has my permission to use this card for dental work , tickets home, and other like items. So, when he goes out to dinner, he can go anywhere and not feel obliged to spend the full amount or less. It has worked well all these years.
Yes. The AMEX card is particularly useful at COSCO. However, none of our family members has it as of today.
Even though DS calls us very infrequently nowadays, he would call us on two occasions (mostly in advance, but sometimes shortly after.):
-
He is about to go out of town for an extended amount of time.
-
He is about to use a higher amount of money for whatsoever reasons.
Somehow I have an impression that, for a small amount of expenses (e.g., small lunch money on weekends), he still likes to use his debit card.
He is the rare “species” in his class who has not moved out of his dorm yet – the dorm for graduate students is a big step down from UG’s living environment. He is a “Scrooge” (just like me) because he said he could save some money by living there.
Mcat2…Costco,is,switching to Visa. How did Costco get into this discussion?
And according to you, if your son is using a lot of money…it’s your money. And if he is using a debit card…it’s money you have put into his account.
But back to the gift thing.
If you decide to get a gift card, it’s easy enough to do. And if not, that’s ok too…if that is your family culture.
Costco, train schedules, phonecalls, vocabulary words, christmas trees, all in a thread about a gift for s’s gf? Makes one’s head hurt.
The question about, and suggestions for, gift ideas has been answered it, hasn’t it?
Yes. Thanks to you all.
After reading your inputs, we now believe we do not have to send her a gift, at least not specifically for her. If we happen to include some “treat” in our package to DS, they could share it.
Thanks again.
@mcat - I think the Liberty Orchards would be fine. I wouldn’t wait too long to order it though since it’s already the 6th and it’s shipped from Washington.
Thanks, MichiganGeorgia.
@mcat2, there are Amtrak trains from Boston up and down the coast.
If your wife wants to send some nice chocolates from New England, tell her to check out
http://www.blackdinahchocolatiers.com/
instead of Godiva. Really.
I haven’t had them, but they have to be at least as good and are more “prestigious” for foodie types.
@Consolation, Thanks. Have just shown her the link.
You could send the two of them a Harry & David’s gift box. My college student loves them, and I like them because they can have healthy food in them (fruit).
BTW, I had Aplets and Cotlets once, and thought they were disgustingly sweet. Yuck.
Obviously, tastes differ! 
We used to ear Aplets and Cotlets on backpacking trips. I never thought of them as " real life food".
My wife shot down my idea about Aplets and Cotlets. In my family, the woman reserves the right to veto man’s idea anytime
Her point: DS cares more about eating healthy food more than we do. If they won’t consume it in a short time, it will not taste good after some time. I agree with her.
Not sure what she prefers to have (or any) at this point. Another “rule” in my family: The woman can change her mind any time
However, both of us now agree that if we do not buy anything for her (and DS), it should not be a big deal. It is totally optional.
If we do buy something, she buys into the idea of: the price and the brand name matters more than the “thoughts” that go into it. You can say we are shallow. However, this does not mean that she would not give her thoughts into the choice of the present. She told me that when she tried to decide what graduation gifts she would buy for her, it drove her crazy because she were thinking too much about it. (It took a lot of efforts before she finally gave up on the Vitamix idea.)
BTW, @Consolation, in case you happen to read this thread also: For someone we really care about, unless we do not buy him/her a present at all, we tend to buy him/her something we ourselves may not even be willing to buy for ourselves because of its cost. Of course, the exception is when we really can not afford it.
@mcat2 - So what did you decide to do?
He posted it in the “say it here” thread
We just mailed DS (not his GF) a care package and they shared the healthy snack inside.
He actually called recently and I heard they liked it and had finished eating a half of it. We also talked about not having the tradition of gift exchanges in our family. But between them, it is up to them to decide whether they will give each other present (and neither of them needs to send us any gift now and in the future for holiday.)