Do iCloud email addresses ignore periods like Gmail? In a Gmail email, you can put periods in your email, but in the end, the address is seen without them.
So dave.tess@gmail.com is also seen as davetess@gmail.com or even d.a.v.e.tess@gmail.com.  

My question is, does iCloud handle emails this way too? If I have an address with periods in it, could I send an email to the same address without periods and receive it?
No, this doesn't work for iCloud email addresses. Just tried it and the email failed to deliver — the email must be exactly correct.