A childhood belief about father christmas

When I was in first grade, around Christmas, our class learned about Christmas around the world. We learned about the French Santa named Pere Noel. Children would leave their shoes outside the door and Pere Noel would fill them with candy and sweets. If you were bad his helper, Black Peter, would spank you! Our teacher had us leave our shoes outside the classroom door so Pere Noel could fill them with candy. I was so excited that while we were waiting I peeked outside. I saw a small little elf-like man dressed in black. He was dancing at the end of the hallway! Later that night I wanted to try it again. So I left my shoes outside the door for literally like 5 minutes, then checked outside and there was candy in them! But, no one had been outside! I'm still trying to figure out how it all happened!