It’s been a good week in the Banker & Tradesman newsroom. This issue of B&T is one of our favorites, featuring a roundup of a full years’ worth of charitable endeavors undertaken by the companies, firms, associations and industries we cover. While we don’t have enough newsprint to cover all of them, the act of going through the archives to compile the highlights reveals some wonderful surprises and memorable photos – which you can see on page 7 of this issue.

B&T’s sister publication, The Commercial Record, a monthly news magazine covering finance and real estate in Connecticut, this month published the results of its annual readers’ poll, CR’s Best. Just like B&T’s Best, readers vote on the best vendors of goods and services in their industries. Their well-deserved recognition appears online and in print.

Also this month, the staff of The Warren Group has undertaken its first annual cube/office decorating contest. Decorating began in earnest last week; cubicles have been transformed into a scene from Charlie Brown’s Christmas, a winter wonderland, and what the view from under a tree must look like, with wrapping paper and bows on every surface. Lights appeared in windows and across the tops of cubes, holiday music plays constantly in the sales department and all of a sudden there’s candy everywhere.

So while the season may not be good for our waistlines – or our backs, once the snow begins to fall in earnest – it is a season for coming together and celebrating everything that has been accomplished.

You, the amazing readers and contributors of Banker & Tradesman, have done so many wonderful things this year and in this season. You have brightened the days of homeless children with donations of toys, repaired community centers with your funds and your paint brushes, and opened worlds of possibilities with donations of books. You have cooked, cleaned, raked, planted, transported and donated. You have changed lives. And you’ll do it all again next year, because the professionals in Massachusetts’ finance, commercial and residential real estate industries are some of the best people around. Here’s to you for all you do, personally and professionally. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Next year will also be an exciting one for The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman and The Commercial Record. Our parent company, founded in 1872, marks its 145th birthday in 2017. In that time it has been managed by only four generations of the Warren family, including our current CEO, Timothy Warren Jr. B&T is as old as the company, while little sister CR came along a little later and next year celebrates its 135 anniversary.

In six months, when the snow has finally melted and the cookies are merely a memory, let’s carry the joy and spirit of the giving season with us. We know you will, readers, because your efforts and contributions to your communities never flag – they only ramp up. And we look forward to sharing it with you for the next 145 years.