KUALA LUMPUR: The festive mood has lured city folks to take advantage of the public holiday and throng major malls in the city centre with their families.
A joyous Christmas ambience forms most of the shimmering red and green-coloured decorations, draping the interiors of shopping malls.
Visitors are seen crowding restaurants, fashion outlets and some sauntered with their Santa Claus hats on; they would occasionally stop for a selfie or two with friends and families.
As with the major roads in Kuala Lumpur are as clear as the skies, today appears to be a perfect day for a last minute holiday stroll and shopping for school items.
The Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC), saw more than more than 10,000 people buzzing in and out since 10am.
Atikah Abu Bakar, 30, from Taman Melawati who came with her family said she decided to take her family out for a day at the KLCC park.
"It is norm for every Malaysian during festivities, when we get the opportunity to spend time with our families," she said.
Civil servant Iylia Ayuni Halimi, 30, who was with her parents in Pavilion Kuala Lumpur said she came to take a look at last minute shopping deals.
And to her surprise, "Santa Claus" was in town to spread the Christmas joy.
"While looking out for shopping deals, I saw a long queue of people waiting to meet and greet Santa Claus.
" It was exciting and entertaining to witness the meet and greet session," she said, adding that the crowd began to queue as early as 2pm just to get a glimpse of Santa.
Some parents also brought along their children to buy school items as most shopping malls are having huge year-end and back-to-school discounts.
Yusliza Yakimir Abd Talib, 31, said she and her husband, Sazali Zamani, also 31, decided to make use of the public holiday to buy school supplies for their son.
Their son, Adi Amsyar will start his first day of school as a Standard One student in the coming school session which begins on Jan 2.
"It is better to buy school necessities during a sale as everything will be sold at reasonable price.
"My husband and I spent about RM250 to buy three pairs of school uniforms for him," Yusliza said.
A clothing store staff, who declined to be identified, said parents would flocking to the shops especially a week before Christmas until year end.
She said stores, in general, would offer selected items at discounted prices up to 20 per cent.