`8 maids a-milking' get a raise this year.Byline: Dan Nephin The Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. PITTSBURGH - While the origins of the Christmas carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas Twelve Days of Christmas presents increase with each day of Yuletide. [Am. Music: “Twelve Days of Christmas” in Rockwell] See : Generosity " may be a mystery, one thing is certain: It's getting more costly to buy your true love all the items mentioned. It would cost $78,100 to buy the 364 items, from a single partridge partridge, common name applied to various henlike birds of several families. The true partridges of the Old World are members of the pheasant family (Phasianidae); the common European or Hungarian species has been successfully introduced in parts of North America. in a pear tree to the 12 drummers drumming, repeatedly on each day as the song suggests, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the annual PNC PNC Purdue University North Central (Westville, Indiana) PnC Point 'n Click PNC Police National Computer PNC People's National Congress (Guyana) PNC People's National Congress Christmas Price Index compiled by PNC Wealth Management. The cost is up 4 percent from $75,122 last year. Buying each item in the song just once would cost $19,507, up 3.1 percent from last year's $18,921. And shopping online would be costlier, with the total for the 364 items costing $128,886, up 2.5 percent from last year's $125,767. You would spend $31,249 online for each item just once this year. Though a humorous look, PNC said the index mirrors actual economic trends. PNC has been calculating the cost of Christmas since 1984. Helping push the cost up this year is the minimum wage increase, which bumped the cost of eight maids a-milking from about $41 to nearly $47. "They have not had an increase since 1997," said Jim Dunigan, managing executive of investment for PNC Wealth Management. "The good news is, if you're a maids a-milking, they will also see an increase in 2008 and 2009." Higher food costs pushed the six geese a-laying from $300 to $360. And reflecting higher gold prices, those five gold rings will cost $395, up 21.5 percent from last year's $325. "The cost of the gold rings in this year's Christmas Price Index reflects the general trend of increasing commodity prices in the Consumer Price Index, including gold," Dunigan said. "In addition, increased fears about inflation and the value of the dollar may have led investors to turn to gold as a safer place to invest their money." Not everything is more costly. The price of a partridge ($15), two turtle doves turtle doves adoring couple, building their nest. [O.T.: Song of Songs 2:12] See : Lovers, Famous turtle doves “voice of the turtle is heard.” [O.T.: Song of Songs 2:12] See : Spring ($40) and three French hens ($40) remained the same, as did seven swans a-swimming, at $4,200, and nine ladies Nine Ladies () is a Bronze Age stone circle located on Stanton Moor, Derbyshire, England. Part of the Peak District National Park, the site is owned by English Heritage and is often visited by tourists and hill walkers. dancing, at $4,759. PNC checks jewelry stores, dance companies, pet stores and other sources to compile the list, Dunigan said. "I'm sure there's something on the list for everybody," he said. "If it was my wife, she'd probably go for five gold rings." |
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