For the first time since 2007, we spent Thanksgiving Day at home, in California.

The period of absence allowed us to get a sense of seven years of what probably was incremental change, perhaps not as obvious to those who experienced it year by year.

For us, the on-the-ground experience of Thanksgiving jumped from 2007 to 2014.

And one aspect of the weekend that has changed, and not for the good … is the further commercialization of the holiday.

For a few decades, Thanksgiving Day was a bulwark against the tide of shopping and buying in the run-up to Christmas.

It marked the last day before the full-blown Christmas rush, and nearly everyone had the day off, especially in the retail world.

That bulwark appears to have been beaten down. A tipoff came in this New York Times story two weeks ago.

If Walmart, Kmart and Target are going to be open on Thanksgiving Day, can the rest of the retail world be far behind?

Seven years ago, this was not an issue. People in 24/7 industries like police work or hospitals or newspapers very possibly had to work Thanksgiving, but not in retail. Aside from the occasional grocery store or minimart.

In seven years, that changed. From early-morning Friday openings to midnight openings to Thursday being part of the shopping weekend.

This is bad. Thanksgiving is the great American secular holiday, and it should also serve as a break from the “Christmas is coming” mania.

But the lazy day of football and turkey has crumbled significantly, over seven years, and the 24 hours ahead of Black Friday now seems doomed to become Black Thursday.