Time is drawing near for the lighting of the final candles on the Advent wreath for 2007. It is a time for personal reflection and pondering the meaning of Christmas. As I viewed the TV morning shows today I heard no mention of the Christ Child or the meaning of Christmas. I did hear that if you purchase a gift on line it will be delivered before Christmas - but you must order by 3:00pm EST.
These are the last few hours of wrapping presents and preparing for the family gatherings. One thing I absolutely despise is wrapping the gifts. My wife and daughters are very talented at this however, I need help. In my mind I envision a machine to make it easier for challenged individuals like me.
As if you didn’t already know, here’s a news flash:
Christmas is getting more expensive.
That increase is reflected in the annual PNC Christmas Price Index compiled by PNC Wealth Management. According to a Nov. 26,2007 Associated Press report: It would cost $78,100 to buy the 364 items, from a single partridge in a pear tree to the 12 drummers drumming, repeatedly on each day as the song suggests. 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. Helping push the cost up this year is the minimum wage hike, 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.
Not everything is more costly. The price of a partridge ($15), two turtle doves ($40) and three French hens ($40) remained the same, as did seven swans a-swimming, at $4,200, and nine ladies dancing, at $4,759. (Click here for BREAKING NEWS and to learn more about the price report.)
I look forward to Sunday morning at NRN as we continue in our Celebration of Christmas. Monday - Christmas Eve will be a great time for the family in our Christmas Eve service at 6:00pm We will be reminded of the real meaning of Christmas. An early Church father Augustine put it this way:
Our Lord came down from life to suffer death;the Bread came down, to hunger; the Way came down, on the way to weariness; the Fount came down, to thirst. —Augustine, Sermon 78
He so loved us that, for our sake, He was made man in time, although through him all times were made. He was made man, who made man.He was created of a mother whom he created.
He was carried by hands that he formed. He cried in the manger in wordless infancy, he the Word,without whom all human eloquence is mute. —Augustine, Sermon 188, 2
THESE MY FRIENDS, ARE TRUSTWORTHY SAYINGS
What do you think? Post a comment. PR
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