Will days of turkey and merriment be replaced by shopping frenzy on Thanksgiving?

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Thanksgiving as we know it may be coming to an end.

Black Friday shopping, the annual rite of passage on the day after Thanksgiving, continues to creep further into the holiday as more stores open their doors a day early.

It’s a break with tradition. Black Friday, which typically is the year’s biggest shopping day, for a decade has been considered the official start to the busy holiday buying season. Stores open in the wee hours of the morning with special deals called doorbusters and stay open late into the evening. Thanksgiving and Christmas remained the only two days a year that stores were closed.

But Thanksgiving is slowly becoming just another shopping day. Wal-Mart, Macy’s and Best Buy are among at least a dozen major retailers opening on Thanksgiving.