On December 7 Rhinebeck, New York, a Hudson Valley town near the east end of the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge, returns Santa Claus to his Dutch roots. In Holland St. Nicholas, or Sinter Klass, arrives from Spain on December 6, accompanied by Black Peter, his disciplinarian sidekick. Sinter Klass rewards the good children with treats; Black Peter gives switches to the bad ones, or stuffs the worst ones in his sack, for further punishment.

This being America, Rhinebeck celebrates on the nearest Saturday (December 7 this year) and Black Peter goes by the alternate name of the Grumpus. Washington Irving, that Olde New York nostalgiast, began the transformation of these elements into Santa Claus, helped by Clement Moore and Thomas Nast.

My Hollenbeck ancestors would be pleased.