So, I got a bit more detail about the Santa Clause thing. On Dec. 6th here, St. Nicholas puts candy and treats in the kids shoes and leaves them by the door. Another amusing thing I learned is that the term for "mood swing" in German is something along the lines of "mood jump". I forget the exact word my roommate used, but I found the idea of a mood "jump" or "hop" rather than a gradual "swing" pretty amusing.