It's almost New Year's Eve, time to reflect on the year left behind and looking forward to the year ahead.
As you can see he is dressing up for "the most wonderful time of the year". Although he doesn't look very motivated. I guess because it's hard work: flying with reindeers...
The Swedish writer Henning Mankell is one of my favourites, especially the novels he wrote about Kurt Wallander. In fact I'm re-reading one of these novels now. Some books are just getting better the second or third time you read them.
"A Stollen is a loaf-shaped cake containing dried fruit, and covered with sugar, powdered sugar or icing sugar. The cake is usually made with chopped candied fruit and/or dried fruit, nuts and spices. Stollen is a traditional German cake, usually eaten during the Christmas season, when called Weihnachtsstollen or Christstollen. A similar cake, found in Dutch cuisine, is called a Kerststol in Dutch, while in Italian cuisine the panettone also shows a likeness."
Sint Nicolaas is a mythical figure, known for his generosity and kindness to children. That makes nowadays in combination with his Catholic roots a somewhat inconvenient combination. But legends live forever and are standing above any suspicion. You can read his whole story here. 
