Sinterklaas (also called Sint-Nicolaas or De Goedheiligman in Dutch and Saint Nicolas in French) is a traditional holiday figure in the Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles and Belgium, celebrated every year on Saint Nicholas' eve (December 5) or, in Belgium, on the morning of December 6. The feast celebrates the name day of Saint Nicholas, patron saint of, among other things, children.

It is also celebrated to a lesser extent in parts of France (North, Alsace, Lorraine), as well as in Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and in the town of Trieste and in Eastern Friuli in Italy. Additionally, many Roman Catholics of Alsatian and Lotharingian descent in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A. celebrate "Saint Nicholas Day" the morning of December 6th. The traditions differ from country to country, even between Belgium and the Netherlands.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7d/Sinterklaas_2007.jpg/180px-Sinterklaas_2007.jpg

Zwarte Piet (I think they are kinda like elves)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/Piet_op_boot.jpg/180px-Piet_op_boot.jpg

Happy Saint Nicholas Day

Zwarte Piet puts all the bad children in a sack and takes them away !

We always did Saint Nicholas day when we were kids. You put your old slippers outside your bedroom door and in the morning got a new pair with a satsuma and chocolate coins or a chocolate initial inside them. 

Zwarte Piet puts all the bad children in a sack and takes them away !
Can the legend of the Pied Piper linked to this?

happy sinterklaas.  Or whatever is appropriate