With “Black Friday” sales starting earlier than ever this year, people who enjoy holiday shopping were able to get into the spirit of the season almost before the sun set on Thanksgiving, whether they took a trip to the regional mall, a local shopping plaza, or their downtown retail district. But Emily McAnulty, a mother of three from Concord, was not among them.

For McAnulty and her children, the holiday season officially begins when they put on their best clothes and head off to one of the many local productions of “The Nutcracker.”