Day after Thanksgiving: The last wine goblet is rinsed and hung on the rack, the last pie crumbs licked up by the dog, and the last of the turkey piled on a platter in the fridge. You’re seized with the holiday spirit. You’re ready to start shopping. Turn on the TV and a dozen department stores try to seduce you with their siren songs: 30, 40, 50 percent off, today only, tonight only, open at 5, open till midnight. Santa at the mall! Salvation Army at the mall! Train rides at the mall!

Crowds at the mall! Tie yourselves to the mast á la Odysseus, because if you succumb, here’s what’s going to happen at the mall. You’ll drive up and down searching for a parking spot, any spot, until you find yourself squeezed in between two SUVs in that lot way behind Target. Then you’ll trudge up and down the corridors, back and forth, until your world begins to spin like Jimmy Stewart’s in Vertigo and you don’t remember if it was Sears, Crate and Barrel, Macy’s or Hallmark Cards where you saw that ornament your mother-in-law would just adore. Too late now. For all you know it was the Everything’s a Buck Store. Jimmy Stewart hung onto a rope in the bell tower, but you, unlucky shopper, have no rope.

But there’s still time to rewrite your part in the scene. It’s still the day after Thanksgiving, but behold, you’re eating a slice of pumpkin pie while working a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle, reading the new translation of “War and Peace” or thinking up your gift list (imagine, you actually have time to ruminate before rushing off). You can relax because you’ve been apprised that shopping will actually be fun if you wait until noon Sunday, Nov. 25 and saunter over to Hall’s Corner. That’s where and when the annual Duxbury Holly Days begins.

At Hall’s Corner you’ll get maps and schedules of events and free photos with Santa; trolleys will shuttle you from one Duxbury business area to another, where shops will be open with specials on jewelry, wine, artwork, books, antiques, clothing and home furnishings, you name it. Santa will be available for photographs. Carollers, an a capella chorus, jazz music, the Snug Harbor Chorus; no Musak here. At Millbrook Station, an artist will cut portrait silhouettes. All around town, restaurants will cook to keep up your energy; the Deli will serve complimentary refreshments. Building on last year’s success, a puppet show of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” will be performed twice at the Art Complex Museum. A magician  and balloon animals will be at Duxbury Marketplace. Oh, and so much more!!

When the sun goes down, go over to the town green for the Duxbury Rotary Club’s traditional tree lighting, where the whole town can congregate and share the spirit of the season.

You’ll thank yourself and Duxbury merchants will thank you as well. Isn’t that a lot more fun?

Thanks to Peggy Dostie, our former editor.