I have fond memories of waking up on December 6th, Saint Nicholas Day, and finding an ornament in my shoe left by good St. Nick. Growing up I was told that this was a German tradition.
From Wikipedia:
"In Germany, Nikolaus is usually celebrated on a small scale. Many children put a boot called Nikolaus-Stiefel (Nikolaus boot) outside the front door on the night of 5 December. St. Nicholas fills the boot with gifts and sweets overnight, and at the same time checks up on the children to see if they were good, polite and helpful the last year. If they were not, they will have a tree branch (Rute) in their boots instead. Sometimes a disguised Nikolaus also visits the children at school or in their homes and asks them if they have been good (sometimes ostensibly checking his golden book for their record), handing out presents on the basis of their behavior. this has become more lenient in recent decades."
Having never received a tree branch in my shoe, I can only surmise that I must have been mostly well behaved during the year.
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