Thanks to the rising price of gold and the soaring birds, the price of ‘true love’ has gone up again. This is based on the price of all the gifts mentioned in the old Christmas carol – ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’.

Just to to refresh your memory, the carol is a cumulative song, adding the gifts AGAIN as the days go by. The first day starts with one gift from the true love, repeating the same gift next day and adding one more every day. So, on the 12th day, the true love receives 12 gifts. Now that is …ummm…. true love!!

The first verse:

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me
a partridge in a pear tree

In the second verse, another gift gets added for the second day:

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree

In the third verse, there are total 3 gifts for the 3rd day:

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Three French hens
two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree

And so on….

The last verse of the carol for 12th day obviously includes all the 12 gifts:

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Twelve drummers drumming
eleven pipers piping
ten lords a’ leaping
nine ladies dancing
eight maids a’ milking
seven swans a’ swimming
six geese a’ laying
five gold rings
four calling birds
three French hens
two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree

Since 1986 every year, PNC Wealth Management has entertained the banking world and rest of us by calculating the cost of the items in this song, if purchased at current prices. According to the bank, the cost of 12 sets of gifts for 2010 is $23,439. They call it PNC Christmas Price Index. Compared to 2009, the CPI has gone up more than 9%. Continue reading →