Subject: The True Cost of Christmas
Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1996 00:39:15 -0500

Culled from the WhiteBoard News for November 15...
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What's the true cost of Christmas? $13,195.86. 

That's what a bank estimates it would cost to buy the gifts sung about in
"The Twelve Days of Christmas," from the partridge in a pear tree to the
seven swans-a-swimming and 12 drummers drumming.

That's up 5.72 percent from last year, according to PNC Bank, which has
released its Christmas Price Index measuring the cost of the carol since
1984.

"The increase in the PNC Bank Christmas Price Index is due to entertainment
costs, not prices of goods," said bank spokesman J. Patrick Bradley.

For example, the price of nine ladies dancing increased 25 percent because
of a salary increase at the Philadelphia Dance Company, which supplied the
bank with the figures for the ladies and leaping lords.

But the $13,000-plus figure is a bargain compared to the song's "true cost
of Christmas," the cumulative total of buying all the gifts repeatedly, as
the singer does.

Those who sing to the song's conclusion rack up 364 presents - for a total
of $54,478.36.

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