In 1986, Nicholas Bakewell published a children’s book with the title “Santa and The Christ Child.” One of the book’s illustrations showed Santa kneeling at the manger, an absurdity that might have passed without much notice.

You imagine a sullen Joseph, standing in the background, muttering: “Oh, great! Like this story isn’t going to be hard enough to believe as it is. This is not at all helpful.”

The book itself may have not attracted much attention, but the image of Kneeling Santa certainly has. You can find them on paintings, figurines, Christmas ornaments, blankets, pillows, Christmas cards, et al.

Surprisingly, the image is especially popular among those who identify as Christian. What might be considered a vulgar distortion of the Christmas story is, to many Christians, a means of reconciling the secular side of Christmas (Santa) with the spiritual side (the manger scene).

Whatever view you hold, one thing is beyond debate: Santa, as the personification of the secular side of Christmas, is a force to be reckoned with and is no longer contented with owning the month of December, no matter who or what gets pushed to the side.

Even before Halloween displays came down on Nov. 1, retailers were putting out their Christmas inventory.

Pity poor Thanksgiving, which only gets a single day (if that) to own the stage.

It’s hard to trace the origins of Creeping Christmas. It used to be that Santa and his associates stood quietly off stage until the day after Thanksgiving had passed, as if to say, “We acknowledge Thanksgiving and, as a show of respect, we will not commence with our orgy of consumerism until the holiday has passed.”

That began to shift somewhere over the past 30 years or so. For a time, retailers even opened on Thanksgiving Day, although that trend appears to be going away.

The truth is, retailers no longer need to open on Thanksgiving Day because they’ve already started their Christmas sales well before Thanksgiving’s arrival. Black Friday has become Black November and there’s probably not much we can do about it.

But individually, we do have some say in the matter.

In two days it will be Thanksgiving Day. Let’s pump the brakes on Christmas and take time to savor the holiday. Thanksgiving is a day to celebrate with family and friends over a festive meal, a low stress holiday (unless you’re cooking) that shouldn’t be rushed through or lightly regarded.

So let us linger over this, the most sincere (and least commercial) of holidays. Thanksgiving deserves it due. When it passes, there will still be 31 days left to prepare for and celebrate Christmas.

Trust us, there will still be plenty of Kneeling Santa merchandise to choose from come Friday.

The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.