Here we are again: Mildly annoyed by the obvious consumerism, but totally in love with the deals. It must be Black Friday.

The Friday after Thanksgiving is still the official start of the holiday shopping season, but things are changing. For starters, Thanksgiving is no longer sacred — shoppers head outside or online to get an early start before the turkey is even cold. And instead of lining up at the crack of dawn after sleeping off their feasts, more people are shopping on their phones. In fact, if you follow the advice of our friends at Wirecutter, you’ll stay home and shop in your P.J.s. (Check out our full breakdown of how Black Friday has changed in recent years.)

Shoppers won’t want for time this year: The gap between Thanksgiving and Christmas — 32 days if you don’t count the holidays themselves — is long (next year it will be just 26 days). That means procrastinators get more time to put things off and retailers get one more shot at luring you in. But beware: Hanukkah is coming on the early side this year.

We’ll be covering it all here, with reporters weighing in from near and far.

Going to the Mall — But Not for the Shopping

Just before 11 a.m. at the Fashion Island mall in Orange County, Calif., the line to see Santa Claus was about 15-people deep, including parents and grandparents. Laura Natale, who lives nearby, brought her three-year-old son Christopher to see Santa. Asked if the crowds were any larger than a typical Friday, she said: “Not really.”