“Merris, this is Mae and Jamie." Merris unbent slightly. "Alan's young lady, I presume?" Mae actually blushed. "Er - no." "Young Nicholas's, then," Merris said wearily. "What they all see in you, I cannot imagine." Nick leaned against the stall ansd smirked at her. "You'll never know until you try.”

“Oh," Jamie offered in a bright voice. "I could cook some--""NO!" Mae, Annabel, and Nick all exclaimed as one.Annabel gave Nick a slightly startled look. He was too busy giving Jamie a forbidding look to notice. "Look, I am getting better," Jamie argued."I saw you put rice in a toaster once," said Mae. "I was there when you made that tin of beans explode.""It was faulty," Jamie protested, his eyes shifty. "I am sure of this.”

“You'll live to regret it, young fellow! Why didn't you go too? You don't belong here; you're no Baggins—you—you're a Brandybuck!''Did you hear that, Merry? That was an insult, if you like,' said Frodo as he shut the door on her.'It was a compliment,' said Merry Brandybuck, 'and so, of course, not true.”

“Then are we not to see the merry young hobbits again?" said Legolas."I did not say so," said Gandalf. "Who knows? Have patience. Go where you must go, and hope!”

“Unfortunately, the headlights of the car were bright enough for them to see Mae's outfit quite clearly. "Oh my God," said Nick, and shut his eyes. Jamie gave a small, nervous laugh. "What?" Mae demanded. "Alan told us that we were supposed to dress as we truly are!" "And you felt that what you truly are is a Christmas tree with too much tinsel." Nick grinned. "Huh.”

“Christmas a humbug, uncle!" said Scrooge's nephew. "You don't mean that, I am sure?" "I do," said Scrooge. "Merry Christmas! What right have you to be merry? what reason have you to be merry? You're poor enough.”