a touch of whimsy

One thing that i love about the whole Christmas season -which for me goes from the day after Thanksgiving through Epiphany- is that there are always a few whimsical moments to be found.
For me, the actual holiday of Christmas holds religious significance, but i also delight in the surrounding atmosphere of magic and wonder.
Take this photo of my Dad's Christmas tree, for example. Do you notice anything a tad unusual?
Something like a lit, animatronic alligator stalking the tree skirt? Cause that's what it is. My dad had a lit palm tree in his front yard that after a few years of Florida weather has gone kaput so for Christmas my stepmom got him this gator to light and protect the garden.
I think he likes you...
Dad has really embraced the whole Florida-living scene (though the lack of palatable crabcakes makes him a bit cranky) so it is no surprise that wrapped up for me under the tree this year was Pappy, the Choc-o-gator.
Yes, a giant solid chocolate alligator.
It is hilarious.
On the back of the box we find out that Pappy is 14 inches long and made of a POUND of chocolate. [i also enjoy that the manufacturers feel compelled to tell us that the picture isn't real sized even though the dimensions are listed right there] He will make a tasty treat to share with my team on Team Day -which means that by the time you read this we will soon be consuming Pappy - YUM!
In my stocking at my Mom's i received perhaps the most whimsical who-thought-of-that?-i-want-to-shake-their-hand novelty candy i've ever seen:
a gummi kabob!!!
Can you believe that it occurred to someone to not only make these enchanting Christmas figures out of delicious gummi, but then to skewer them together onto one kabob of tasty joy? Genius, people. Genius. And the icing details are fabulous.
Check out that reindeer's mischievous expression and the poinsettia on the hatband of the snowman's hat:
Delightful.
Finally, i'd like to share with you a present that made me laugh so hard i almost peed-  
What are they? you ask, And why are they so funny?
Because, they are wooden blocks of the periodic table!
Isn't that ridiculous?
We've been thwarted at trivia more than once by questions about elements (you might recall that we missed winning $250 by the atomic weight of Holmium) so Jason and Kate gave me these blocks to play with, i mean, study. At a time when health, economy and the world in general feels so serious, i love finding nuggets of whimsy. What made you smile this season?