Do you St. Nick?

I grew up on the West Coast..or at least near it, (Las Vegas, Nv.) and I'd never heard of St. Nick's until I married my DH who was raised in Wisconsin. Then again I have no German ancestry.

The Germans are alive and well here in Milwaukee. They have one of the best, and the oldest, immersion elementary schools (began in 1977) in German. Many educators from around our country have come to see how MGIS works and modeled their schools after it. How do I know? My oldest went to MGIS (Milwaukee German Immersion School) for 2 years. And it's seriously immersion. Teachers speak nothing but German from Kindergarten (also a German word by the way..I'm started to feel like the dad in My Greek Wedding...) on, in the class room. The kids just pick it right up and run with it. It's amazing. We moved and my oldest moved schools.

ANYWAY

St. Nick's. On the evening of December 5th, St. Nick comes and puts candy and small toys in the children's stockings.
It's very popular here in Milwaukee.
My husband and I met in Denver and moved in together. Our first Christmas together he put things in my stocking and I didn't even realize it. Too funny! About a week later, I asked him if he put stuff in my stocking early..and he explained St. Nick's to me.

Last night he and I were awoken by our youngest (3) screaming, "St. Nick came! St. Nick came!" at THREE FIFTEEN AM. Urgh. We let our daughters look in their stockings and made them go back to bed. This year they had Slinkys, Silly Putty, lip gloss, Pop Rocks, and a cream filled Santa.

So? Any of you celebrate St. Nick's? Or have you at least heard of it??