PITTSBURGH (AP) – The slow recovery of the U.S. economy is continuing to keep the cost of Christmas – or at least the gifts listed in “The Twelve Days of Christmas” – from spiraling out of control.
The price of two turtle doves jumped from $290 to $375 this year, but nine of the other 12 gifts listed in the carol stayed the same price or became cheaper, including a partridge in a pear tree, according to the 33rd annual PNC Wealth Management Christmas Price Index released Thursday.
As a result, the overall cost of the gifts listed in the song increased 0.7 percent to $34,363, up $233 from last year’s total of $34,131.
PNC Financial Services Group releases the price index each year as a whimsical way of tracking inflation.
Besides the turtle doves, only the cost of 11 pipers piping and 12 drummers drumming – both up 2.8 percent – increased.