Cost of Christmas: If you’re thinking of...

Cost of Christmas: If you’re thinking of giving someone the celebrated gifts in the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” be ready to fork over $14,598.78, according to Provident National Bank in Philadelphia. The grand total of the gifts is up 5.9% over the 1988 figure of $13,785.63. Seven of the 12 items remained at 1988 prices: a partridge in a pear tree, two turtle doves, three French hens, four calling birds, six geese a-laying, seven swans a-swimming and eight maids a-milking. The five gold rings were up 20% to $750, and, except for maids a-milking, the remaining service-industry gift prices were higher this year. The price tag for ladies dancing and lords a-leaping, for example, was up nearly 16% to $2,084.40 and $2,316, respectively.