12/18-TWO IMPOSSIBILITIES: AN ITALIAN DESCRIBING AN ACCORDION WITHOUT USING HIS HANDS, AND WALKING THROUGH THE "LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM" WITHOUT AT LEAST SILENTLY HUMMING THE APPROPRIATE CAROL.

It's no secret who digs for our salt, our silver, our iron, our gold, etc. Who excavates one of the greatest treasures of all; our Christmas carols? It turns out the world's champion "archeologist" of Christmas music from the carols Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley put out currently clear back to the almost-lost mysteries of medieval Europe is New Jersey resident Ronald Clancy whose "detective" stories about chasing all our beloved carols back to their roots yield a power and pleasure equal to that of the carols themselves. How does he do it? What was his biggest surprise? Was he ever stumped? Sara is begging Barry not to sing any of the downright strange Christmas carols he picked up in Sweden. Barry has embraced the more realistic goal of limiting his own cultural contribution to the proceedings,as Ron Clancy visits with Sara and Barry this evening.