Plush Menorah with removable candles.

Much, much safer than cuddling with a real lit menorah.

$15 at The Jewish Museum Shop

Stream of consciousness thoughts on LittleMissMatched socks, available for the whole family:

Three socks.
Two feet.
One sock stays home.
None of them match.
That makes it fun.

Luke Sutton’s in the business of making people happy. . . which is probably why the t-shirts he sells are emblazoned with his drawings of an adorable anthropomorphic heart and not of a crying puppy. Crying puppies, I’ve found, do not make people the least bit happy. The adorable shirts are an irony-free declaration that in a cynical, heartless world, it’s OK to have a heart–especially if said heart wears yellow sneakers and a giant smile.

OK, maybe that 12-year-old on your list won’t so much care that the surface of this ball is made of recycled rubber, or that for every 70 balls, 1 tire is left out of a landfill (not the most impressive stats, perhaps, but it’s something). But the camo-green color and catchy “Think Globally, Hoop Locally” slogan (printed right on the ball) jazzes up the Wilson Rebound–and what kid doesn’t love that new basketball smell?

Star Wars Galactic Heroes Stocking Stuffers, $7.99 + shipping at HasbroToyShop.com

The nefarious Dr. A. Racknid has his sights set on the LEGO Coast Guard truck! What is Captain Little Yellow Guy to do?

Read on for the exciting adventure!

What’s that urban legend about never smiling at a crocodile? Pure rubbish. Take this crocodile, for example. How can you look at this lil’ guy (his official name is “Kojo” but I call him “Sven”) and not put on a happy face?