<P> And so on . Each day was taken up and repeated all round; and for every breakdown (except by little Maggie, who struggled with desperately earnest round eyes to follow the rest correctly, but with very comical results), the player who made the slip was duly noted down by Mabel for a forfeit . </P> <P> Lady Gomme wrote in 1898: </P> <P> "The Twelve Days" was a Christmas game . It was a customary thing in a friend's house to play "The Twelve Days," or "My Lady's Lap Dog," every Twelfth Day night . The party was usually a mixed gathering of juveniles and adults, mostly relatives, and before supper--that is, before eating mince pies and twelfth cake--this game and the cushion dance were played, and the forfeits consequent upon them always cried . The company were all seated round the room . The leader of the game commenced by saying the first line . (...) The lines for the "first day" of Christmas was said by each of the company in turn; then the first "day" was repeated, with the addition of the "second" by the leader, and then this was said all round the circle in turn . This was continued until the lines for the "twelve days" were said by every player . For every mistake a forfeit--a small article belonging to the person--had to be given up . These forfeits were afterwards "cried" in the usual way, and were not returned to the owner until they had been redeemed by the penalty inflicted being performed . </P> <P> "Twelve days of Christmas" was adapted from similar New Years' or spring French carols, of which at least three are known, all featuring a partridge, perdriz or perdriole, as the first gift . The pear tree appears in only the English version, but this could also indicate a French origin . According to Iona and Peter Opie, the red - legged (or French) partridge perches in trees more frequently than the native common (or grey) partridge and was not successfully introduced into England until about 1770 . Cecil Sharp observed that "from the constancy in English, French, and Languedoc versions of the' merry little partridge,' I suspect that' pear - tree' is really perdrix (Old French pertriz) carried into England"; and "juniper tree" in some English versions may have been "joli perdrix," (pretty partridge). Sharp also suggests the adjective "French" in "three French hens", probably simply means "foreign". </P>

How many gifts received in 12 days of christmas