During my childhood in Bavaria, we knew him as Der Weihnachtsmann who brought me a pair of snow skis my grandfather had made and hidden in his carpentry workshop, we knew the Weihnachstmann had been because of the footprints we found in the sawdust. Der Weihnachtsmann was just an old man who gave toys to children. The rest of the Santa Claus story belongs to Disney.
They can cut Santa Claus out of their picture, but the Weinachtsmann continues to live forever, he's the essence of generosity to little children, and if you were naughty, you got a smack on the bottom.