Why's he called Jolly Old Saint Nick?!?

Question

The fat bastard slept with the house elf! Nothing Saintly about that!

Answer 1

It all started when The New York Historical Society held its first St. Nicholas anniversary dinner on December 6, 1810. Artist Alexander Anderson was commissioned to create the first American image of St. Nicholas for the occasion. He was shown in a gift-giving role with children's treats in stockings hanging at a fireplace.

Then Washington Irving's poem:"The Night Before Christmas." solidified the image in 1823.

"He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf. . . ."

Answer 2

Gee my house doesn't have an elf. Did that alleged incident happen in your house which does have a house elf?

Are you complaining about the jolly or about the saintly in the description? Was the elf complaining also or was he just glowing happily?