My FIL is such a sweetheart

I'm leaving it up to DH whether he wants to tell his family the possible good news next week when we're over there visiting. I think it would give his Dad something to really look forward to, as an 81 year old widower of 3+ years who's slowly recovering from his bypass operation at the end of May. He could do with a little more incentive to stick around and enjoy life for at least a couple more years.
FIL is such a lovely man. He apparently asked DH for banking details for me back in May, as he wanted to send me a little gift in celebration of me passing my licensing exams. DH tried to tell him he didn't need to do that, but he insisted that it was a big important event in my life and deserved something special in honour of the achievement. DH said he could transfer the money to our joint German account if he really wanted to - he thought he might send me 100 Euros max. Something to buy a good couple books with, or to have a nice dinner out with.
Yesterday FIL was chatting (MSN Messenger, at age 81! I'm so impressed with him) with DH, and he asked if his present had arrived in the account yet. DH checked, and FIL had sent me 3000Euros as a present. Holy smokes! I was so blown away by his generosity. I'd have been overjoyed to get a card saying congrats, that I could treasure for years. But to give me that amount of money? My own parents didn't even send a card.
Even stranger is that DH's family really doesn't go in for expensive gifts ever. We get little tokens for each other for Christmas, and then just enjoy spending time together. My family (sadly) puts more value on the expensive stuff. Last year I asked Mum what she'd done with a box of second-hand books I'd spent ages tracking down on Ebay a few years ago, that were all nice hard-cover versions of books by her favourite British authors. I thought they were great presents, personally - it was exactly the kind of thing I'd love to receive. I hadn't given her one in a few years, and she'd seemed to like the ones I gave her 4-5 years ago, so I thought it might be time to give her another couple. Mum emailed back saying that she didn't want some cheap old book, but would like this fancy hand mixer - not very well-mannered, eh? My brother spends way too much money on presents for everyone - makes you feel guilty that you didn't also spend $300 on something for him. He buys himself everything he needs anyhow, so gift-giving can be a challenge. Mum often buys somewhat useless stuff - socks or t-shirts that you'll likely never wear, or a cushion that doesn't match your decor (admittedly with a cover bought in India or Africa or somewhere she'd been recently). The stuff that I loved that she gave last Christmas were these lovely batik prints of a couple jungle animals that she'd bought in Africa for my nephews. I'd have LOVED to receive those as presents for either decorations for my future house, or as presents for my future baby.
It's weird to feel that my in-laws have more appreciation for the same things I do, and that they celebrate my achievements more than my own family does. I'm so grateful to have such an amazing second family.