Usually I don't visit the homes of boys and girls in the United States until late in the evening of December 24. You call me Santa Claus and leave your stockings hung somewhere in your home for me to fill.

Boys and girls in Germany call me St. Nicholas, and they have a special day for me on December 6. On the evening of December 5, I try to visit all German boys and girls in their homes and ask them questions about how well they are doing in their school work, whether they attend church regularly, if they behave well for their parents and teachers, and if they are lazy or slow in doing things they are asked to do around their homes. If they have been good, I visit them on my special day, December 6. They leave their shoes out, and I leave them little treats.

Since your class has been studying things about Germany this year in social studies and about what it is like to be a boy or girl in Germany today, I thought that perhaps you would enjoy having me visit you this year on my special day, December 6. Time will not allow me and my helper Pelznickel to visit you on the evening of December 5 to ask each of you personally about how you have been behaving. If each of you will write me a letter and tell me about how you have been doing in school and let me know if your behavior has been good, you may put your shoes out in the hall by your classroom door, and Pelznickel and I will leave you a treat just like we do for German boys and girls. Please leave your letters inside your shoes when your teacher tells you to, and wait until you hear my bell!

Have a happy Christmas season!