According to an AP wire story, the ingredients of the 12 days of Christmas lyric now cost $107,000. To refresh the memory, the 12 items are in order: a partridge in a pear tree, two turtle doves, three French hens, four calling birds, five golden rings, six geese a-laying, seven swans a-swimming, eight lords a-leaping, nine ladies dancing, 10 maids a-milking, 11 pipers piping and 12 drummers drumming. Sum total value as calculated by Kevin Begos, $107,300, not including sales tax.
The priciest item on Kevin’s list was the seven swans a-swimming at $1,000 each but I have a friend at the Lac Courte Oreilles who can get me poached trumpeter swans dressed out at $100 each, and alive taken on a backwoods pond, $50 each. However swans are migratory so you got to look quick and probably with a long lens to see them swimming as with a good tailwind they can make the Tennessee River bottoms from west of Hudson’s Bay in about 72 hours, if the wind holds about half that time. Not bad for any commuter.
The 12 drummers were priced at $2,775.50, that’s $231.29 each for an hour’s worth of gig. I know drummers who will play for beer and a bologna sandwich. I also know of drummers who would have to pay me to listen. A fair central Wisconsin value here is in the $240 range, 20 bucks each plus a case of Point Amber and a couple buckets of chicken wings, 300 bucks max.
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