Every year, lots of holiday shoppers pledge to “keep it local” but many still wind up sitting in mall traffic or clicking their way to a last-minute online buying spree. I’ve been there myself more than a few times, and it always seems like one of the drags on shopping local is the convenience factor.

Enter Marie Millares and her network of vendors at San Jose Made, which is producing the San Jose Craft Holiday Fair this weekend at the blue-and-white tent formally known as the San Jose McEnery Convention Center’s South Hall.

On Saturday and Sunday, there will be more than 120 makers, designers, food producers and artists selling goods. Team San Jose is adding a pop-up cafe and a craft-beer and wine garden, and there will be live screenprinting available for apparel and paper goods. It’s like you’ve got everything you’d want in a holiday shopping experience wrapped up with a nice artisan bow.

The craft fair will be open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days, and there’s a list of participating vendors — plus a convenient layout of the space so you can see where everyone is — on the San Jose Made website.

TWELVE DAYS OF CONCERTS: St. Joseph Cathedral Basilica again is hosting the “Season of Hope” series, showcasing a fantastic lineup of choirs, orchestras, dancers and musicians. Performances began Monday night with the San Jose Jazz All-Star Big Band, conducted by Aaron Lington, and continue through Dec. 23 when Verlene Schermer brings the Celtic harp players of Harpers Hall to close things out. One of the highlights this year should be, “One Voice, When Jesus Was Born,” a performance by the Jewish, Muslim, Christian Community Choir on Dec. 15.

Every performance begins at 7:30 p.m., they’e all free and the historic cathedral is a wonderful venue in itself. Get the full lineup online at www.stjosephcathedral.org.

GOOD SPORTS: The 49ers and Sharks are definitely headed in different directions in the standings of their respective sports, but the two organizations had winning moves outside the game last week.

The 49ers partnered with Convoy of Hope, a humanitarian-relief organization, to bring more than 1,000 people from Bay Area social-service agencies and schools to a holiday resource fair last Monday at Levi’s Stadium. They received warm clothes, groceries, holiday gifts, health and dental screenings, haircuts and even family portraits. Several players, coaches and team execs were on hand, including tight end Vance McDonald, who traveled to Haiti with Convoy of Hope last year, and wide receiver Torrey Smith, who was just nominated for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award.

The Sharks, meanwhile, linked up with Healthy Start Family Resource Center to surprise 40 underserved San Jose families on Tuesday with a celebration at Solar4America Ice. Players mingled with the families at the Sharks Foundation’s Holiday Assist Party, and they were also treated to free ice skating on the rink, where mascot S.J. Sharkie showed off his skills, too.

EXTENDED BIRTHDAY WISHES: Anyone who gets to be 95 deserves as many birthday celebrations as they can handle, and that’s pretty much what Empire Broadcasting President Bob Kieve got last week. Kieve was serenaded with “Happy Birthday” and presented with a birthday cake Wednesday by the Rotary Club of San Jose. There was another song Thursday night — this time by the 800 or so people at the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Legends & Leaders dinner. And then Friday — his actual birthday — Kieve got a surprise celebration at the Silicon Valley Capital Club, attended by many of his employees from KLIV-AM as well as several from KARA-FM, the station he used to own.