Christmas Price Index chose the items in the popular Christmas carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas" as its market basket: a partridge in a pear tree, two turtle doves, three French hens, four calling birds, five gold(en) rings, six geese, seven swans, eight maids, nine dancing ladies, ten leaping lords, eleven pipers, and twelve drummers. According to tradition, the purchasing of the items begins on December 26 and ends on January 6. PNC compiles both a "Christmas Price Index" and "The True Cost of Christmas." The "Christmas Price Index" is calculated by adding the cost of the items in the song. The "True
Christmas Day in the Morning Seven Joys of Mary,' the songs that Mr. Ives sings to his own guitar accompaniment, are the most attractive, for in the others the ballad singer is pulled out of his element by being starred as the soloist with a choir and an orchestra." The same eight songs, along with four others, were released as "Christmas Eve with Burl Ives" (Decca DL 8391) in 1957. These songs, in turn, were released as "Twelve Days of Christmas" (Pickwick SPC 1018) in the 1960s. Christmas Day in the Morning Christmas Day in the Morning (Decca DL 5428, 1952) is the first of