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.

Rooney’s line treats post–gift-opening clutter not as disorder to be corrected but as evidence of abundance, family presence, and shared ritual. The “mess” becomes a temporary record of excitement—wrapping paper, opened boxes, scattered toys—marking a rare moment when ordinary standards of tidiness can be suspended in favor of savoring experience. The admonition “Don’t clean it up too quickly” suggests that our impulse to restore order can also erase the emotional residue of celebration; leaving the room as-is for a while allows gratitude and memory to settle. More broadly, it’s a small argument for valuing lived moments over appearances and for recognizing that some kinds of chaos are signs of joy.