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Seeing Patty standing there reminded me why I signed up to be a Tree in the first place. Pretty soon, the rest of the Trees started throwing apples, too. I think Toto even got in on the act. Somebody knocked the glasses off of Patty's head, and one of the lenses broke. Mrs. Norton had to shut down the play after that, because Patty can't

see two feet in front of her without her glasses. After the play was over, my family went home together. Mom had brought a bouquet of flowers, and I guess they were supposed to be for me. But she ended up tossing them in the trash can on the way out the door. I just hope that everyone who came to see the play was as entertained as I was. Wednesday Well, if one good thing came out of the play, it's that I don't have to worry about the "Bubby" nickname anymore. I saw Archie Kelly getting hassled in the hallway after fifth period today, so it looks like I can finally start to breathe a little easier.

Sunday With all this stuff going on at school, I haven't even had time to think about Christmas. And it's less than ten days away. In fact, the only thing that tipped me off that Christmas was coming was when Rodrick put his wish list up on the refrigerator. I usually make a big wish list every year, but this

Christmas, all I really want is this video game called Twisted Wizard. Tonight Manny was going through the Christmas catalog, picking out all the stuff he wants with a big red marker. Manny was circling every single toy in the catalog. He was even circling really expensive things like a giant motorized car and stuff like that. So I decided to step in and give him some good big-brotherly advice. I told him that if he circled stuff that was too expensive, he was going to end up with a bunch of clothes for Christmas. nkledc. I said he should just pick three or four medium-priced gifts so he would end up with a couple of things he actually wanted.

But of course Manny just went back to circling everything again. So I guess he'll just have to learn the hard way. When I was seven, the only thing I really wanted for Christmas was a Barbie Dream House. And not because I like girls' toys, like Rodrick said. I just thought it would be a really awesome fort for my toy soldiers. When Mom and Dad saw my wish list that year, they got in a big fight over it. Dad said there was no way he was getting me a dollhouse, but Mom said it was healthy for me to "experiment" with whatever kind of toys I wanted to play with.

Believe it or not, Dad actually won that argument. Dad told me to start my wish list over and pick some toys that were more "appropriate" for boys. But I have a secret weapon when it comes to Christmas. My Uncle Charlie always gets me whatever I want. I told him I wanted the Barbie Dream House, and he said he'd hook me up. On Christmas, when Uncle Charlie gave me my gift, it was not what I asked for. He must've walked into the toy store and picked up the first thing he saw that had the word "Barbie" on it. So if you ever see a picture of me where I'm holding a Beach Fun Barbie, now at least you know the whole story.