How did people in the U.S. use to celebrate St Nicholas Day on Dec 6th?

Answer 1

The Holiday Today
In anticipation of St. Nicholas's nightly visits, children in several European countries put their shoes in front of the fire place. They sing traditional songs and provide a carrot or hay for the horse. At night Black Pete puts gifts and candy in the shoes.

In the Netherlands, families celebrate St Nicholas's birthday the night before his feast day (December 6th). At one point during the evening, a loud knock will herald the arrival of Sinterklaas and at the same time candy may be thrown from upstairs; when the door is opened, a bag of gifts will be on the doorstep.

For families with older children and adults, different twists are added to the gift giving and may include gag gifts or the drawing of gift ideas or names, and most times are accompanied by poems with a "personal touch" that poke fun at the recipient in a gentle way (or not, depending on the families ;) ). Wrapping the presents up in odd packages and planting a trail of clues is also part of the general fun, and can sometimes be pretty tricky to get to, depending on the squeamishness of the recipients
http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/xmas/around/stnicholas.html


I had thought we used to celebrate about like the above does now, but I can't seem to find it anywhere online (proof.) Most people in the USA now haven't even heard of Dec. 6th as St. Nicholas Day now, they just know of Dec. 25th--as Christmas.