But instead of toys or gadgets, some spent the day giving something far more meaningful – their time.

At the Gurdwara Sahib in Petaling Jaya, FMT met some Christians who were spending the faith’s biggest holiday volunteering to prepare aid for victims of the floods that devastated parts of the country for over a week.

May, a recent graduate, spent much of the day preparing care packages for the victims.

“I feel like this is a meaningful thing to do, so I thought I’d come down,” she said about her choice to spend Christmas at the gurdwara.

“I love this spirit, it’s a great way to spend Christmas, coming together to help people.”

Raymond, who was helping unload donations from cars, said lending a helping hand on Christmas Day was “the least (he) could do”.

“There’s great synergy and unity here with all the volunteers. There’s a spirit you feel here among people.

“It’s something greater that what meets the eye,” he continued.

Jasbir Kaur, the gurdwara’s vice-president, said the response over the last week has been overwhelming.

“If you just look outside, there’s easily over a thousand people. We have Indians, Malays Chinese, we have children helping. It’s a real community effort.

“During this holiday period, a lot of people have taken annual leave, and have chosen to spend it here rather than relaxing at home. Preparing food, packing rations, loading the trucks … people have been so kind to give us their time.”

While early relief efforts focused largely on freshly cooked food, dry rations and cleaning supplies have become much more in demand over the last few days.

Over 5,000 mattresses have been donated, for example, with one worker saying the command centre had received calls from people wanting to donate more, only to find that many suppliers in the Klang Valley had run out of stock.

The gurdwara has a policy of only accepting new items, not used ones, as they feel it is a matter of respect to not give victims “discarded” supplies.

Kuldip Singh, one of the chief coordinators for deliveries to flooded areas, said there is a “mini-traffic jam” outside the temple nearly every night, with cars lining up to drop off donations.

He said everyone at the gurdwara was immensely grateful for all the support they have received, from donors to volunteers working tirelessly to sort, pack and send items to victims.

“Take the people with the four-wheel drives. They are offering their vehicles and bearing the cost of petrol and tolls, they have never asked us to reimburse them.

“We have hundreds of these people going as far as Bentong and Karak with supplies.”

The gurdwara can be contacted at 010-2174556 for more information about donations in cash or in kind. Its social media pages are also frequently updated with lists of supplies it is running low on.

Jasbir, however, has one request. “One thing we are really asking people to donate are new toys,” she said.

“Our teams on the ground say the children are shaken, all their toys have been destroyed.”

It would be indeed a joyous Christmas if the children got their toys.