It's the subtext, silly.

So it's the first day of the twelve days of Christmas (see 6/1/06), and according to the rhyme, you should give your true love a partridge in a pear tree.  Bit why on earth?  Doesn't make sense.  Indeed, the more you look at The Twelve Days Of Christmas, the less sense it makes, and you are driven to the conclusion that it is in fact just a nonsense rhyme.  But why?  Well, for the best part of 300 years from the middle of the 16th century, it was dangerous, if not actually illegal, for Roman Catholics to practice their faith in this country.  To keep their beliefs alive they devised various seemingly innocent ways of passing them on to their children, and this was one such.  The Twelve Days become twelve important facts for children to remember - one for the one God, two for the Old and New Testaments, three for faith, hope and charity, four for the four gospels, and so on.  So forget the partridge - unless you're having one for dinner - yummy!