But while adults may ask for a cashmere sweater or a gift card for Christmas, kids often have much simpler desires — yet they still live for the anticipation of unwrapping the things they described in their letters to Santa.

A Reuters photo series sick and well kids from around the world draw what they wanted for Christmas, and the resulting pictures capture the joy, the innocence, and the excitement of — well, a kid on Christmas.

Pika Feliciana Kranjec, 4, from Kranj, Slovenia wants a small lollipop.

what kids around the world want for christmas
photo: REUTERS/Srdjan Zivulovic

Natsuki Ariga is from Tokyo, Japan. The nine-year-old wants comic books on Japanese and world history.

what kids around the world want for christmas
photo: REUTERS/Toru Hanai

"Santa gives me a present every year for working hard," he told Reuters. "That's why I practice Electone (Yamaha's electronic organ), abacus, and track and field very hard."

Laughing in his home in Belgrade, Serbia, four-year-old Maxim wants a plastic dinosaur.

what kids around the world want for christmas
photo: REUTERS/Marko Djurica

Khanyo Mchunu, 13, from Embo, South Africa, wants a house for Christmas.

what kids around the world want for christmas
photo: REUTERS/Rogan Ward

Five-year-old David Arias drew what he wants for Christmas (a police motorbike) out of UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica, California.

what kids around the world want for christmas
photo: REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Nela Ragulova, 6, wants Lego construction toys. She lives in Trencianske Stankovce, Slovakia.

what kids around the world want for christmas
photo: REUTERS/Radovan Stoklasa

Onari Abigail, 8, suffers from schizophrenia and gets treatment at the Pedagogical Medical Institute "Los Pipitos" in Managua, Nicaragua. She wants a castle full of princes and princesses.

what kids around the world want for christmas
photo: REUTERS/Oswaldo Rivas

Four-year-old Alicia, from the indigenous community of Tarahumara in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, wants a winter coat.

what kids around the world want for christmas
photo: REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

She also wants clothes for her cousins.

Lynn Habbouche, 6, only wants an iPad, and to recover from leukemia. She lives in Beirut, Lebanon.

what kids around the world want for christmas
photo: REUTERS/Jamal Saidi

From Buenos Aires, Argentina, nine-year-old Morena Fay wants an electric guitar.

what kids around the world want for christmas
photo: REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci

"I want to ask Papa Noel [Santa Claus] to bring me an electric guitar this Christmas, because I love music and I've wanted one for a long time," she told Reuters.

Zofie Cizkova, 8, who lives in Prague, Czech Republic, said that for Christmas "I want all the dogs to love all the cats."

what kids around the world want for christmas
photo: REUTERS/David W Cerny