A Grand Finale Patisserie is hosting the 2nd annual rally to bring back the real fruitcake on Saturday, Dec. 12, at 2 p.m. in Louisville. Join bakery workers as they march down Louisville’s Main Street handing out samples and information about real fruitcake.

For whatever reason, 2009 is not going to go down as one of the better years for holiday albums. The main reason is that there weren’t as many releases as usual. In any event, here is this writer’s takes on the best and worst of this year’s seasonal releases.

Books make for great holiday gifts. Here’s a quick roundup of what’s out this season. Snag your copy from the Boulder Book Store (1107 Pearl St.; www.boulderbookstore.com) or the Colorado “On the Hill” Bookstore (1111 Broadway; www.colorado.bncollege.com).

From the latest hit films to a favorite TV series to classic movies appearing for the first time in Blu-ray, DVDs remain excellent gift choices this holiday season.

Boulder County — where the beer flows like wine, and where the women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. No, wait, that’s Aspen. But the beer does, indeed, flow like wine here in the Foothills. Boulder County boasts 23 breweries, brewpubs and meaderies. With 103 breweries in the state, Colorado is second in the nation for most breweries (California leads the way with 221), according to the Brewers Association. Now, that’s a lot of beer!

Nothin’ honors those ever-soworthy kith and kin on your shopping list each holiday season like gadgets — handheld, hi-def, mobile-on-the-go, ergonomic, rechargeable, solarpowered, or just plain noisy and cool. Green shoots are for suckers — the economy is still in the tank, and there’s no better way to keep us all distracted from that unfortunate reality than plug ’n’ play gizmo swag.