Engulfed in the festive season the whole world comes together to celebrate the birth of Jesus. The world which has become a smaller place thanks to the advancement of technology and travel has helped bring various communities together who despite their religious differences celebrate Christmas in some form or another. Christmas is the season for peace and goodwill and in this current climate, Sri Lanka needs it more than ever. While some will celebrate Christmas with piles of gifts and a table groaning under the weight of a feast, a vast majority of Sri Lankans will celebrate Christmas in a climate of austerity.

Daily paid workers might not be able to afford a special meal while others might be fearful of lighting their gas cookers for fear of an explosion. Christmas is also the season for sharing and now more than ever we need to reach out to our brethren in need and help those that need it most. My wish for Christmas is that the tide of fortune of our nation will change for the better. A daunting wish but I hope it will happen. LIFE spoke to a cross-section of readers who share their wishes for Christmas.

Menaka Galgamuwa
My Christmas wish is for the return of a  pre-Covid world when we could kiss and hug our family and friends without hesitation. This would also mean that all those who lost their jobs would be back at work again.

Nadiya Fernando
My Christmas wish is to get an opportunity to pause and take stock of my life and choices. To learn from my mistakes but also congratulate myself for what I’ve done right.

Aritha Wickramasinghe
My Christmas wish is to spend more time with family next year and to find a gas cylinder to cook Christmas lunch.

Blessie Keegal
My Christmas wish is for Sri Lankans to experience a future of prosperity led by people who are for the people and not for themselves.

Druvi Gunasekera
My Christmas wish is for people to focus more on Jesus, not St. Nicholas! While material gifts are nice, they perish. The gift Jesus gave is the ultimate sacrifice - his life for me & you, that saves us. “Jesus is the reason for the season.”

Treshan Weerasooriya Pereira
Christmas is a time of festivities, celebration, and giving! It’s close to my heart! The most exciting time of the year where I look forward to celebrating with my dearest friends and family!

Alston Koch
My wish is that Christmas will return to what it used to be so that I could celebrate with my family & friends again and not be worried about what the next year has in store for everyone in this wonderful world.

Mariazelle
My Christmas is believing that as we commemorate the birth of The Messiah, all the World will experience His Healing Grace and that this pandemic will end with no more threats of life-threatening variants popping up. Peace on Earth... Goodwill to man

Candice DirEckze
My Christmas wish is that God continues to bless my family with health and happiness.

Dinara Punchihewa
My Christmas wish is for 2022 to be kinder to all of us. I want it to be better for people emotionally and financially than the last two years have been. 

Asanka De Mel
My Christmas wish is—in the coming year—you trust in your power to create a better tomorrow for Sri Lanka. Start small, don’t underestimate your power. 

Ashok Ferrey
May the variants roll out faster and ever more furiously, getting progressively LESS harmful, so I can finish learning the Greek alphabet in time. Dear Lord, I pray every day, please let me get to Omega before Omega gets to me.

Kumar De Silva
My wish for Christmas is that we Sri Lankans will be more tolerant of each other and stop our glorious national sport of back-stabbing. Death strikes and equals us all, so why ride the high horse anyway?

Azhara Careem
My Christmas is about giving to the needy and wishing there is peace and happiness among all.

Arusha Basheer
I wish for a happy and blessed Christmas for everyone celebrating around the world. May everyone have a greater year ahead enriched with peace and harmony.

Amrita Hapuarachchi
My Christmas wish this year is for things to return to somewhat normal and for us to be more open to kindness and respect. There is too much anger and intolerance in the world