by Cait Foster

Hi Boo! Here is my Christmas story. It’s a true one, I hope you’ll like it.

It’s amazing how something that your child does can break your heart so much. One of my friends told me that the first time her three year old punched her in the face she went to the bathroom, locked herself in and cried for twenty minutes. Another told me that the first time her daughter told her that she hated her, she died a little inside. So with those stories I can only imagine what I did to my mother on Christmas day when I was five years old.

I remember being so excited that it was Christmas morning. My sister and I rushed down the hall to our fake little Christmas tree and gawked at all the gifts that surrounded it. So many were from Santa, but there was a few select ones, always the best ones, that were signed by my mother. We saved these ones for last. I can’t remember if it was because that is what she wanted, or that is what we chose to do, I just remember opening those ones with the prettiest paper last.

We ripped through our stockings first, then our little gifts, then our big gifts. Everything was wonderful to a five year old. Even the clothes which I had no interest in were nice to look at. When we were done we were surrounded by piles of crumpled paper, crushed boxes, broken bows and tangled ribbon. We sat patiently waiting for our final gift. The loveliest ones of the whole group, with Victorian wrapping paper covered in roses and little girls in white dresses and curly-cues. The ribbon was a dusty pink velvet-like ribbon, and in the knots my mother had tied fake Baby’s Breath. A pretty little card covered in sparkles topped it off. It was a picture perfect gift, and I tore into it like a baboon on a gazelle carcass.

My sister had hers open first. It was a magical little Precious Moments plush doll. She was dressed in a burgundy dress with a gray hooded cape. On her hand rested a blue bird. She stood on a stand and when you wound up the base she would play music and turn. I was in love with it. She was so beautiful, and seeing what my sister got, I anticipated something even better.

My bubble was popped though as soon a I ripped off the final shred of paper. I too had received a Precious Moments doll, but mine was quite different. She was in a bikini with a water toy around her waist. She had goggles on her head, and didn’t play music like the other, she was more of a rag doll.

Instantly I was appalled. I broke into tears. My mother, bless her heart, had no idea why I was so upset. I began to scream with vigour, “I hate it! I hate it! I HATE IT!” My mother scrambled to get a hold of the situation but it was too late. I was in full tantrum mode and she could not understand why. In my final act of expressing my disgust, I picked it up by it’s nose, pretending like it was a piece of garbage. Unfortunately the nose was only lightly glued on, and as soon as I did this, the doll fell, leaving me with that stubbly little nose pinched in my fingers.

“That’s it!” my mother roared, “Go to your room!”
“Way to go Caitlin. You ruined Christmas.” My sister chimed in.

Off I stormed to my room to pout away the rest of Christmas morning, as my mother sat in the living room with what I am sure was a broken heart.

* * *

I couldn’t help but recall this incident as my friends told me their Mommy Horror Stories. Suddenly I felt so much guilt that I ran to the phone and called my mother. As she picked up I was already pouring apologies out my mouth, hoping she would forgive me for my tantrum twenty years prior.

I could hear her chuckle on the other end, as she said “Oh Hunny, you were just little. The only thing I don’t understand is why you were angry enough to rip off her nose.”

I went on explaining to her the reasoning that was in my little five year old brain at the time.

She giggled again and told me why she had chose that particular doll for me that Christmas. “You had just started swimming lessons, and I was so proud of you. I wanted you to have something to remember your big accomplishments.”

I smiled with tears in my eyes and told her, “I’ll always remember that gift mum. Now I know it was the best gift ever.”

Thanks BumbleWeeNursing.ca for sponsoring yesterday’s contest 😀

Here is the video of the winner. Winner is:

• 335 jaxflower

Congrats! Please send an email to smartcanucks at gmail d0t com to claim your prize.

Are you looking to travel soon? Get away from this cold and snow?!

Perhaps you’ll need some new luggage… Goodness knows we don’t own any and I am tired of always borrowing it from my parents 😉

TODAY ONLY The Bay is offering various brands of luggage at 75% off!!

Thanks to TheGirlOutWest for posting this amazing deal

From December 4 – 10 Toys R Us has some amazing toy deals!

Buy $50 in LEGO products and receive a $10 gift card for use between December 27 – January 30. This is while quantities last with no rainchecks.

They also have TONS of other deals like:

• 40% off Little People sets (my fav)
• 30% Star Wars figures
• Buy 2 get 1 free Thomas the Train
• 25% off all Play-Doh
• 25% Barbie tea sets and dress up clothes
• Buy 1 get 1 50% off all Wii/Nintendo DS games
• 30% off Hasbro games (use your $10 off cereal coupon!)
• and so much more!

Coupon lady was so kind as to post the flyer. Click here to view it.

Just got an email from Gap… tomorrow they have a BOGO sale on all adult tops. This is one day only, Friday, December 4th!!

This offer excludes Vancouver area stores and some Gap locations are not included, please read the fine print below for more details…

*Offer valid at Gap stores in Canada on December 4, 2009 only. Not valid online, or at Gap Factory Stores or Gap Generation stores. Not valid in the following stores: Kerrisdale Kids, Robson Street, Oakridge Centre, Pacific Centre, Park Royal Shopping Mall, Richmond Centre, Metropolis at Metrotown, Seven Oaks Shopping Centre, Coquitlam Centre, and Guilford Town Centre. Excludes jackets, vest, coats and (Product) RED™ tops. While supplies last. Restrictions apply. See store for details. Limit one discount per customer per transaction. No adjustments on previous purchases. Not valid on babyGap home or Junk Food™ merchandise. Offer must be surrendered at time of in-store purchase. Discount applies to merchandise only, not value of GiftCards purchased or applicable taxes. Not valid for cash or cash equivalent. Cannot be combined with other offers. Offer is not transferable without consent by Gap. Gap Inc. employees are not eligible for this offer.

I believe you need the coupon to get this offer, so in case you do, I have included it here for you, from the one that I received.

Click here to print out your coupon!

Thanks Sally for letting us know about this CoastalContacts.com offer.

CoastalContacts.com is ClearlyContact’s parent US company. They do however ship to Canada too and in fact ship from Vancouver 😀

User coastal contacts coupon code GOBBLE to get 50% discount on all glasses. CoastalContacts.com coupon expires December 7th, 2009.

Click here to shop at CoastalContacts.com

[pic source: phitar]

New ClearlyContacts.ca coupon codes for December 2009 😀

• Clearly Contacts Coupon code 1: SMARTFESTIVE
• Discount: 10%, no minimum, everyone

• Clearly Contacts Coupon code 1: SMARTHOLIDAYS
• Discount: 25% Off Eyeglasses, no minimum, new customers

So some of you may have noticed that the Old Navy Weekly website looks different. After Gobblepalooza, the site has now updated with “Winter Funderland Edition” which has daily coupons, instead of the weekly coupon hunts.

For example, for December 1st, click on the box entitled Dec 1st and you will see that the offer is Adult Alpine Hoodies for $20 and children’s Alpine Hoodies for $15. If you click on the girl in the middle with the white hoodie, you will notice that a $5 off coupon pops up, when you buy an Alpine Hoodie, which is valid from 11/29 – 12/5.

Dec 2 – Click on the snowball that the girl is holding in the offer, and get 10% off any in-store purchase, valid 11/29 – 12/5.

I think the idea is to check on each day and see what coupon you can get, maybe ones will be better than others. These are valid in Canada, just as the Old Navy Weekly were and it says they are limited. You can print them out or email them to yourself just like with the others.

Click here to see what coupon you can get!

The Source is having a clearance sale of their  GPS display models.  Some prices are as low as $59.99. I’m eyeing up one regular $499.99 for only $99!  They come with the full warranty as well, so that puts my mind at a bit of ease. I also see their liquidating some cameras, camcorders, and computers as well offering savings of up to 50% off!

Also the Source is having 12 days of “incredible deals” from today until December 12th. Hopefully they will be “incredible.”

Entertainment.com is offering all books at $10 off retail and free shipping for the month of  December! Considering that the coupons in the book  are worth a lot more then cover price, this isn’t a bad deal. Also additional book are only $15 each for the next three days!

From your hometown to your next vacation destination, the Entertainment.com coupon book is packed with discounts on Dining (2 for 1), attractions, shopping, travel and hotels.   A ton of Canadian major cities are covered as well as USA and other desinations. Prices are in USD but the Canadian dollar is hovering around .95 cents.

I’m going to order a few for stocking stuffers/staff Christmas parties.

A nursing mom is a beautiful mom. At BumbleWee Nursing Wear our aim is to make all nursing moms feel as beautiful as they are while making nursing in public convenient, comfortable and easy.

Our specialized nursing & maternity clothing is created to be sexy and fun while still allowing easy and discreet access to the breast. Our tops are so stylish that no one would ever guess that they were nursing tops.

Most of our tops, dresses and pajamas are 2 in 1, which means that they are sized to be used during pregnancy as well as through nursing, so you won’t need to buy a separate wardrobe for each!

SmartCanucks Giveaways Day 20: Free $100 of items from BumbleWeeNursing.ca

Thank you BraAllure for sponsoring yesterday’s contest. Natasha of BraAllure.com has kindly given us a coupon code to use:

I would like to offer to those who didn’t have a chance to win a 20% off coupon for all bras & briefs in the store. Minimum purchase $100, good for first 10 customers only, Valid today and tomorrow.

Coupon code: CANUCKS20

Click here to shop at BraAllue.com

Here is the video of today’s winner. The winner is:

• 126 Harbie 

Congrats Harbie! Please send an email to smartcanucks at gmail d0t com to claim your prize.

Chickadvisor is giving out 1000 free full-sized bottles of the New Sheer Infusion moisturizer by Vaseline. Products will be shipped out in 2-3 weeks.

This is limited to one per household, and is open to Canadian residents. I know it says state in the form, but the form itself at the top says it is available to Canadians as well. Keep in mind that filling out the form, does NOT guarantee that you get one, it is limited to first come, first serve basis to the first 1000 participants. The form will disable once the product has run out.

Click here to order yours!

Giant Tiger is taking a page out of the Loblaws’ book and is having a tax free event this coming weekend (Dec 5 & 6).  There are actually quiet a few exclusions in this event, they include: grocery, pet food, candy, cleaning products, health and beauty, tobacco, lottery tickets, gift cards and online orders.  So pretty much all clothing, household items, toys, seasonal items and gift wrap and cards are tax free.  It isn’t the best Tax Free event but it would still save some money on Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers. I pretty much love all tax free events!

Thanks to couponlady for letting us know about this event!

There are some amazing new Glade coupons up on save.ca so act fast as I don’t think they will last!

• FREE Sense and Spray
• Buy one get one FREE PlugIns Refills
• Buy one get one FREE Candle or Candle refill

Click here to get your coupons

thanks a million to sleepingsublime for this HOT coupon bunch!