Happy Holidays

It’s starting to feel a lot like Christmas. We’ve got real-feel temperatures near zero here in the metro New York area, and much of the country is already buried in snow. While digging out your car or sloshing through mushy streets to get to work is nobody’s idea of fun, I have to say that I actually enjoy a seasonal chill around this time of year. It just fits with the holidays.

This year the holiday calendar seems to be abbreviated. Both Christmas and New Years fall on weekends, with both eves on Saturdays. Some companies are observing the holidays on the two Fridays, some on the Mondays, some both; but in any event, what sometimes gets stretched to a two-week celebration this year just feels shorter.

At the same time, though, I have to admit that I’m also not sensing the usual infectious holiday spirit that ordinarily overtakes New York in December. I don’t know what it’s like in your neck of the woods, but New York City is normally a hotbed of holiday festivity. The store windows on Fifth Avenue are just as beautiful as ever, and the Rockefeller Center tree is a show-stopper as always, but somehow it just feels different this year. Maybe it’s the sobering times we live in. Or maybe it’s the bevy of NYPD and Secret Service agents closing down the intersection of Main & Main in NYC (Fifth Avenue and 57th Street) in order to protect our President-elect. For all of our blessings, and there are many, there’s a lot to reflect on in the world around us. We can only hope that 2017 will be a better year for those less fortunate than we.

Here’s what’s on my wish list for all of us: Peace. Prosperity. Compassion. Tolerance. Collaboration. Health. Love. Family.

If the Marcum team members who turned out in force for our annual Day of Service on November 23 are a barometer, I am very encouraged by the capacity of people to be selfless. Next week we will be reporting how much was raised for the Marcum Foundation by all of our offices in 2016 to date, to help those in need in the communities where we conduct business, and I want to tell you, I am impressed myself. It is a great feeling to work in a company where so many people are willing to step up in service to others.

As for the Weiner family, we will be spending the holidays, as we have for the last several years, in South Florida. With today’s single-digit temperatures in NYC, I’m looking forward to the warmth and sun that South Florida has to offer this time of year. For Lily, Kate & Max, this year will be special as we visit Disney World for their first time. We celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas in our house, and this year they fall at the same time, with the first night of Hanukkah coinciding with Christmas Eve.

To our clients, friends and colleagues: From my family and all of us at Marcum, we wish you a joyous holiday season, surrounded by family and friends. Merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, happy Kwanzaa, and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year! Cheers to a great 2017.

This column will be on holiday hiatus until January 6. See you next year!