With Halloween behind us, the holiday season is here.  Retailers, radio stations, and grocery stores have all started breaking out their Christmas-themed products, and Google may soon join them.  Rumor has it the Gingerbread version of Android will launch on Thursday.

Please note: nothing’s certain.  And if you believe Google wouldn’t want Samsung to in any way steal its thunder, the credibility of the rumor suffers.

Still, Kelly Hodgkins wrote earlier today, "A trusted source has tipped us to the potential launch date for Gingerbread, the 2.3 version of Android.  According to our source, the SDK for this upcoming revision will debut on November 11th.  The timing is propos as Samsung is slated to have a big event in New York City next week on the 8th and the confirmation of a Gingerbread-powered Nexus Two is a possible topic for this event."

Then one other point somewhat in favor of a Thursday launch is the simple fact that Google’s already installed a Gingerbread statue on its campus, so the release should occur pretty much any time now.

We’ll of course see what happens and be sure to report on the launch whenever it takes place.