There were many reasons for our Piedmont Recreation Department’s Walking on Wednesday group to be at Exedra this Wednesday. It was truly a special day. We walk every Wednesday, rain or shine, but it was Christmas and Hanukkah. The last time the holidays were on the same day was in 2005. It won’t happen again until 2035 but that will be a Tuesday. It was also the last Wednesday of 2024. So, there was a good turnout of 19 walkers and one K-9 best friend to celebrate this special morning together.
We were mindful of the services provided by the Piedmont Police and Fire Departments, and especially appreciative of the good people who were on duty this holiday morning. We always walk, but Colonial Donuts on Lakeshore Avenue is open 24/7/365, and we had two boxes of their donuts for these departments’ staff.
We made a short walk to the Veterans Building and the PPD phone at its lower level. Officer Hugo Diaz answered our call and said he would come out on the side of the building near the fire station. We met him there and we all went over to the fire station and called from its intercom. Firefighters Chad Walker, Brittany Burges, Lucas Romero came out and the donuts were safely delivered. The attached group photo was taken.
After these visits, we were off to see the homes in the central part of Piedmont that are decorated with representations of the 12 Days of Christmas gifts. As a holiday tradition, some residents of Highland, Caperton, and Sheridan Avenues display the items of the 12 Days of Christmas carol in their windows or entryways.
We went off going through Piedmont Park, and checked out the water flow in Bushy Dell Creek, which was good after the recent rain. We emerged on Guilford Avenue, and it was shared that 12 Days of Christmas is an English Christmas carol. However, it might have also been a catechism song for young Catholics during the 16th through early 19th Centuries. During this period Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone may have written this carol with two levels of meaning. One is the surface meaning, but the other might have been known only to Church members. Each gift in the carol may have been a code for a Catholic religious concept which the children could remember.
There has been lots of news lately about inflation. The costs of all 12 presents mentioned in the last verse of the well-known Christmas carol were shared. PNC Bank does an annual check and says the total cost this year would be $49,263. That amounts to a $2,533, or 5.4%, increase from 2023. Last year they only rose by 2.65%, but that was after a big 10.5% increase in 2022. The prices are affected mostly by labor costs for personal services, like those of lords, pipers, and drummers.
PNC says a partridge in a pear tree goes for $350, two turtle doves $750, three French hens $46, four calling birds $600, five golden rings $1,245, six geese a laying $900, seven swans a swimming $13,125, eight maids a milking only $58, nine ladies dancing $8,557, ten lords a leaping are the most expensive at $15,579 (It was felt there may be some gender wage discrimination going on here), eleven pipers piping are $3,714, and twelve drummers drumming are $4,016.
We went down Guilford looking for decorated houses. We didn’t find any, but back on Highland we soon found a partridge in a sparkling pear tree in a front window. We continued, finding two turtle doves, three French hens (drawn by the house’s three children), and four calling birds. We turned up Caperton Avenue and found five golden rings, six geese a-laying, and ten lords a-leaping. We arrived at Sheridan Avenue searching for eleven pipers piping and twelve drummers drumming. Going back towards Highland, we found them in two more windows.
Our search and walk were complete. It was time for us to wrap up 2024 and go home to continue our holidays. We appreciated the services of Piedmont Police and Fire Departments’ fine people, the Highland, Caperton and Sheridan homeowners’ holiday visual gifts, and a great year of walking and being together.
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