All I want for Christmas... (කිස්මස් එඩිසන්)

Dear Santa,

I'm writing this letter to you from the island nation if Serendib on boxing day soon after the Christmas...

I would have written you earlier but decided to do it after Christmas because i didn't want to be like the other folks who asks stuff from you.. 

Even if i got a chance to write you i would have written you only this.

Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas is for it to end quickly!!

Thanks.

So as you can see this would have given a bad blow to your Christmas spirit it self. So i decided to stop myself and delayed the letter.

This year we are celebrating Christmas with coconut going at 110 rupees and rice at 85, thanks to our beloved president Maithree.. Dude is very busy these days trying to fight the most dangerous and most severe crisis of all times which is drinking "milo" 

I think our excellency is correct when it comes to this milo matter considering the amount of injuries Anjelo Matthews is having who is the brand ambassador for milo!!    

Apart from that nothing exciting is happening these days here mostly due to parliament holidays. All of them have gone abroad to spend their "hard earned cash".

I know that non of this is your concern but i wanted to give you a glimpse of what we had to go through currently.

Sri lanka has the most unique way of celebrating  the birth of the christ.
It is called the "Celebrating Christmas in Buddhist Style"
All the people in the world gets together and enjoy the day being merry with the booze... here the fucking bars are closed.

For heaven's sake we are celebrating the birth of Jesus who turned water into wine!!
But Nooo... in this land that does not matter you have to do the celebrations on Buddhist terms without alcohol
(Some may argue that this is for safety reasons .. fuck that im not going to believe that bullshit)

I'm not a big fan of religious festivals my self but i must say that Christmas always brings out the positive vibes and energy  to the society through catholic culture unlike Vesak or other religious celebrations in the country.

But there is one thing i don't like about Christmas, and in my opinion its the most dangerous factor in 21st century.

 Its the abnormal consumerism among people in the month of December.
Its the largest global economic stimulus of our time.

Statistics shows that normal retail sales boost up to at least 3 times in Sri Lanka during this time.
Looking at the global stats, an average person in UK spends 748 pounds on Christmas and in US the retails sales generates three trillion dollars for Christmas. Guess who's prayers are answered by the God!!  multinationals and corporates.

Millions are spent on artificial decorations and for those who needs a more natural touch,more than 80 million pine trees are cut down this year to use as Christmas trees only to be thrown away in few weeks of time!

Unlike your days Santa nowadays every thing is controlled by the capitalism and Christmas is no exception .we tend to become collectively blind to see the fact that the vast majority of the people are unable to celebrate Christmas in the way that we have been told to celebrate.

The average middle class usually  ends up in debt with credit cards after over spending for the season.

If you spend some time listening to the local radio and TV stations lately, even you would get fed up with all the Christmas advertising and marketing campaigns.

I thinks the best gift that one could give some one is "time" where you will be genuinely and fully present. Taking a break from the rush of earning money to pay off for stuff and spending that time with your family and loved ones would make your life flow much slower.
That's where one would find the true Christian spirit.
You would feel much more liberated not only for the Christmas but for the whole year.

So Santa i know your a busy guy and don't have time for this kind of absolute lunatic thoughts of mine.
Im also not that jobless to write long letters to a non existing character like you.

So till i write you again next year, have holly jolly Christmas!!!

With Much love,
Arrack Diaries.