“One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas Day. Don't clean it up too quickly.” Andy Rooney
My Dad was born on Christmas morning, which was the third night of Chanukah in 1913 (the year of his birth): it made for an interesting occurrence in his Orthodox Jewish home. After that, my grandparents celebrated his birthday by always opening several presents on Christmas morning, much to the delight of he and his siblings who would normally get only one present a day for each of the 8 days of Chanukah… a practice my parents continued. So, there was always a lot of wrapping paper in our home on Christmas morning. But that’s nothing compared to my sister-in-law’s house: she and her second husband had 13 kids – his, hers, and theirs. You can imagine the look on our one and only daughter’s face the first time she saw what was under their tree and the mess that made: it was a serious counterpoint to our comparatively sparse nightly Chanukah exchange of gifts. Which leads me to musing that this is the time of year when gift giving reigns supreme in the hearts and minds of families everywhere: the wrapping paper mess that it makes creates a glow that keeps on giving. Don’t clean it up too quickly in your home and hearts today.
Andrew Aitken Rooney (1919 – 2011): American radio and television writer who was best known for his weekly broadcast "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney", on the CBS News program 60 Minutes
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