Happy St. Nicholas Eve! But wait, there's more!

Today is St. Nicholas eve, AKA...

Talk Like a Ninja-Pirate day!


But since we all spoke like pirates early this year, let's just say:

It's Talk Like a Ninja day.

Fair enough.

The holiday received its origin when Santa Claus was no longer invited to come to homes to leave candy in children's shoes, as St. Nicholas day tradition. Without Santa around, his enemy, the evil Krampus, took over as ruler of the holiday and promised children that they only had harsh punishment to look forward to on this day if they were bad at all this year. This prompted Santa to take action. For five years he sequestered himself at his fortress in the icy north to study the ways of the ninja. That following December 5th, Santa gave Krampus a glorious whipping, and, as a bonus, used his ninja skills to sneak into homes to leave presents for good children again, instead of poisons and shuriken like the actual silent-killers.

So be good, for goodness sake, or he'll come and get you!