The Twelve Days of Christmas or Christmastide
Since the Twelve Days of Christmas are only half over, it's not too late to consider the PNC Christmas Price Index for the gifts given in the song, The Twelve Days of Christmas. The Christmas Price Index was developed and is updated by the PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (www.pnc.com) one of the nation's largest diversified financial services organizations.
Since 1984, the cumulative costs of the items mentioned in the song have been used as a form of economic indicator. This custom began with and is maintained by PNC Bank.
Two pricing charts are created, referred to as the "Christmas Price Index" and "The True Cost of Christmas." The "Christmas Price Index' is an index of the current costs of one set of each of the gifts given by the True Love to the singer of the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas."
The "True Cost of Christmas" is the cumulative cost of all the gifts with the repetitions listed in the song. The people mentioned in the song are hired, not purchased.
Although initially intended as a amusing form of economic trivia, trends have emerged. The Christmas Price Index has often increased or decreased at a rate consistent with the other CPI - the Consumer Price Index, a widely followed measure of inflation produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The total costs of all goods and services for the 2007 "Christmas Price Index" is $19,507.19, an all-time high. The original 1984 cost was $12,371.36.
Over the last 22 years, the prices of services in general have increased, while the price of goods has decreased. In the 1984 Christmas Price Index, goods were by far the more expensive component of the index. Today, services are a much bigger piece of the Index.
This year golden rings are higher because of the increase in the price of gold. Milkmaids have benefited from minimum wage increases, etc. Check out the details.
Each year educators use the Christmas Price Index to teach economic trends to students. Here on the PNC website page for educators, you will find a lesson plan and activities on the Christmas Price Index from The Stock Market Game program.
Here on the PNC site you will find games using the Twelve Days of Christmas and the PNC Christmas Price Index.
On a more personal note, I have tried to interest family members in celebrating Christmas a bit differently---December 25th as a religious day and do gift giving on the Three Kings Day, the 12th day, the day the Magi brought gifts. However, the family seems totally uninterested.
12:06:30 PM 
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