Yesterday, quite unexpectedly, our priest told us that he'd received two extra tickets to the annual Russian calendar New Year's 'ball'. All of our things are in storage, pretty much, so I called my sister and asked if I could borrow an emergency dress.

On the way to her house, I asked my six-year-old niece, \"Grace, do you know what I'm doing tonight?\"

\"No, what?\"

\"I'm going to a ball.\"

\"You're going to marry the prince???\"

\"No, Grace! I already married the prince!\"

\"Then why are you going?\"

\"Well, you know how when Cinderella goes to the ball, she's not the only person there? There's a bunch of other people there dancing, too. I'll be one of those people. But I don't think there will actually be any princesses there tonight, it's just a party for grownups to wear fancy dresses.\"

We managed to get ourselves together, but when we got there, Nathaniel started to have a panic attack - something that is pretty unusual for him. After an hour, when it still hadn't eased up, we ended up leaving. I was bummed.

We ended up going to a diner in suit and gown for sandwiches.