Load up the program, select retail or online pricing, and watch the costs accumulate as a nice piano version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" plays in the background.
12 Day$ of Chri$tma$ uses up-to-the minute data from the PNC Christmas Price Index to calculate how much the gifts in that venerable Christmas carol would cost. The program is a bit rough around the edges--the Pause button didn't work in my tests with Windows XP, for example--but it's free, and it would be great for kids and classroom use.
--Kim Saccio-Kent













