Yes, yes…as my roommie pointed out, we were visited by Bellsnickle (via mail) yesterday. Hurrah, and thank you!

And it’s true, there’s not much to be found about dearl Bellsnickle on the internet. I did manage to find a mention of him here, which verifies my belief that it is a German (Bavarian) tradition.

The tradition, as we practiced it, was that children would leave their shoes out on the night of Dec. 5. During the night, Bellsnickle would visit and leave small gifts and candy in the shoes of good boys and girls. 😉

The tradition coincides with St. Nicholas Day.