Have you been considering Christmas Is For Kids, but feeling unable to stretch your budget enough to fit in one more gift?

We understand the worries, but encourage you to reconsider. As of today, there are exactly Twelve Days of Christmas - remember that song? - left until the Dec. 15 deadline.

Yes, the economy is making us jittery. Just look at all the lords a-leaping and pipers piping and drummers dumming as mixed financial news turns everything topsy-turvy.

This brings us to the gifts that comprise that old holiday song. This year they will cost you $78,100 for all 364 items, up from $75,122 in 2006.

This 4 percent increase, about even with last year's 3.5 percent increase, makes this the most expensive Christmas on record for this gift list since a group called PNC Wealth Management started 23 years ago to calculate current day costs of gifts in The Twelve Days of Christmas and to track trends. The price of swans has dramatically decreased. Six swans a swimming would have set the True Love back $7,000 in 1984, but today, they cost close to half of that, around $4,000. However, the cost of entertainment has increased over time. As a result, the ladies dancing and lords a-leaping have seen a 300 percent increase in their fees.

The result of all these fluctuations? Many of us are tightening the belt on spending, even it's a plasma TV we're after or a GPS, instead of maids a-milking who, by the way, got their first raise since 1997 when federal laws increased the minimum wage.

Please don't let those worries deter you from helping to put the local children's gift drive over the top. Your generosity, displayed magnificently over so many years, is again needed. Kids don't understand that Santa may not have enough presents for everyone.

That's an adult concept. Listen to PNC's spokesman.

"Each year, the Christmas Price Index reflects trends in the broader economy," said James Dunigan, managing executive of investments for PNC Wealth Management. "This year, increased commodities prices, concerns about the value of the dollar and the first minimum wage increase in 10 years were major factors in the increases to the Christmas Price Index."

Explain to a 6-year-old how that translates into an empty stocking.

Kelly Fox, president of the Greater Attleboro Area Council for Children that organizes the drive, said Saturday she worries there will be too few donors to meet the need.

"The phones have essentially stopped ringing," Fox said. "At this rate, we'll never match all the children."

We've covered this subject in several stories and editorials. But it cannot be repeated often enough, not, at least, until the last request has been met. A teddy bear or a pair of warm socks are lots cheaper than five gold rings.

Another kind of ring - on the telephone - is just what's needed. There are Twelve Days of Christmas remaining over at the gift drive headquarters. So, once again, the donor request line is 508-226-0911, http://www.councilforchildren.org/cifk/cifk-home.htm