The 12 Days

In Monday's Sacramento Bee:

"The price of lords-a-leaping and ladies dancing has spiked this holiday season, but other items mentioned in the carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas" still cost the same as they did last year.

Buying one set of the gifts mentioned in each verse costs $27,393 in stores, or 7.7 percent more than last year, according to the so-called Christmas Price Index that PNC Wealth Management updates annually. And if you buy all 364 items repeated throughout the carol, you'll pay $114,651 — 6.9 percent more than last year.

Last-minute shoppers who turn to the Internet will pay even more for all the gifts — about $173,000."

I decided to stay another day on my weekend jaunt, but I can't resist writing when something strikes me. Then, out comes the smart phone and the words just flow from there. 

This article was timely, given the time of the year. After all, would anyone care about the cost of five golden rings or two turtle doves in July? Or eleven pipers piping? I don't think anyone would. Today, of course, what to get our loved ones for Christmas is paramount in everyone's mind. 

But legend also has it that turtle doves are probably the most important gifts you can give to a friend. If you give a turtle dove to someone, you must keep one for yourself. Then, each time you touch the one you kept, your friend will think of you as you are thinking of her or him. It's a legend, so don't blame me if it doesn't work.

The swans are the most expensive item at $1,000 each. The eight maids-a-milking still cost a total of just $58 because the federal minimum wage hasn't risen in a while. At $7.25 each, they're the least expensive gifts in the song.

And in 1984 when this important survey/statistic was begun, seven  swans cost $7,000 that year, the same as today, while the cost of a single partridge went from $12.57 to $15 during the same period. One pear tree to put that partridge in? Thirty years ago it cost $19.95, but will now set you back $184. Times 12.

The cost of nine ladies dancing is now $7,553, or 20 percent more than last year's $6,294, while 10 lords-a-leaping jumped 10 percent, to $5,243.

So, before you go out and get me twelve drummers drumming, six geese a-laying or three French hens, remember that in the long run, the cost of a flat screen, Hi Def, 3-D TV, with a built in blue-ray DVD player, just might be cheaper in the long run. And I won't have to feed the TV, which I would have to do for the hens, the geese and the drummers. The cost of food isn't figured in to these stats, just so you know. 

Happy Shopping!!