Something in the Water

When I was growing up, we had this strange looking contraption that would come out every Christmas.  It looked something like this:

And when you lit the candles in a circle around the bottom, the windmill thing at the top would turn and all the little people on the inside of those tiny gazebos would spin around and around.

I could not for the life of me figure out where in the world this contraption came from.  I decided that, since it seemed to be a fairly new addition in our family traditions, it was something cooked up by...I don't know...JcPennys and described in some catalog as being "quaint" or "charming."  But I always wondered if this thing was actually a thing somewhere in the world...like Atlanta...or in Maine...or maybe even Canada?

You probably know where I'm going with this...

BAM!  Germany.  It's totally a Germany thing.  Also, they have monster-sized "pyramides" (as they are called) here.  Something in the water.  And this one, here in Rostock, is like a baby dinosaur.

Check out the Godzilla version in Dresden:

That's forty-five feet of Christmas cheer, right there.  And I think it's secretly saying, "Hah!  Take that ya Christmas tree.  You think you're soooo cooool."