In Spain, Santa Clause doesn't bring presents on the night of the 24th like in the States, but rather the children must wait until the night before the wise kings safely returned home from their journey to see baby Jesus. They officially made it back to their hometowns on January 6th, so when the children wake up on that day they are surprised with lots of goodies that the wise kings left them.
Even though traditionally Spain celebrates the arrival of the wise kings, setting up various renditions of the city of Bethlehem to symbolize the holiday, the cultural influence of Santa Clause and the Christmas tree is penetrating more and more into the Spanish Christmas. This has caused a bit of a controversy. Those that are more conventional maintain the traditional Bethlehem whereas younger generations are incorporating more images of Santa Clause and the Christmas tree.
The top picture depicts the typical decoration of the wise kings climbing the terrace to someone's house to drop off the presents. The image below shows the terrace of one of our neighbors with a Santa Clause in place of where the wise kings once were.
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