Our tree. Again. I think this camera mode (and having the lights off) does a better job of capturing it. I am really a little obsessed. I want to keep it up all year long (or at least all winter?), but I'm pretty sure it will die after three weeks without water.
Naomi with the Macy's teddy bears. These guys were a way bigger hit than Santa (there was no actual lap-sitting this year). :-) They came out after the puppet show of Miracle on 34th St. I didn't know if Naomi would like the show, since it was fairly long this year and a little more geared at older kids, but she was completely enthralled. Even though I highly doubt she got anything out of it other than some fun music and dancing. Go figure.
Santa was not a big hit....but Santaland was.
Outside looking at the windows:
In Santaland again:
And now on to another topic, unrelated (kind of) to Naomi. I had a conversation with someone yesterday in which I stupidly asked how much they pay their nanny. This was a bad conversation in which I came across (accurately) as being completely judgmental. So fine, maybe that was bad. It's debatable. I just have one point to make here. Everyone makes the argument that nannies earn so much more than it seems because they are being paid off the books. But in reality, if (as in this particular case) you earn less than minimum wage, and you are the sole income-earner in your household, If you WERE on the books, you would ONLY pay social security taxes (6%), PLUS if you were a US citizen, you would be eligible for all kinds of governmental assistance (welfare, Medicaid, etc) that is not available to an illegal immigrant paid in cash only. So no, they are not really so amazingly well off--certainly not better off than a legal citizen being paid the identical amount on the books. Especially since you CAN'T PAY the identical amount on the books, because it is ILLEGAL. On the other hand, if you pay a more reasonable wage, and the person is in a dual-income family...chances are they might end up paying more in taxes, and that they do actually benefit *financially* from being paid off-the-books. Also, since most of the nannies in Manhattan commute from the boroughs anyway, living in a borough doesn't make it considerably easier for a low-paid nanny to pay her bills. After the boroughs come the burbs, which are not cheaper but more expensive to live in. *Everywhere* in NYC is expensive to live.Bottom line: paying off the books does virtually nothing to solve the financial woes of someone earning well below the poverty level. It only "helps" someone who is already earning a more middle-class income. For what it's worth. I don't know what the appropriate amount is to pay a babysitter, and I know these issues are exceedingly complicated; I just want people to be honest about the reality of the situations they are involved in.
