AUGUSTA – Mainers stuffed with turkey and gravy are now ready to start salivating over sales.

While Friday is the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, some shoppers started early. L.L. Bean in Freeport was packed with consumers trying to beat the rush, and the store reported around $400,000 in sales, not bad but much less than the more than $1 million predicted for Friday.

Elsewhere, the Thanksgiving emphasis remained on traditional family time. Mainers gathered with their families and friends to watch parades and football games as they celebrated the nation’s bounty on Thursday, but many also remembered the “give” in Thanksgiving.

Public dinners were offered in Portland, South Portland and elsewhere. In Auburn, Tammy Hewison planned to continue a four-year tradition and give free dinners to anyone who wandered in to her restaurant, The Slamma. Hewison does the same on Christmas.

“God has a way of sending us the people who need food,” Hewison said. “It’s a delight to see all the people come in. Nobody wants to be alone on the holiday.”

A similar offer stood at the Route 112 Variety Store in Buxton, where Mike and Karen Marsh offered turkey dinners to anyone who walked in.

In Augusta, Gov. John Baldacci visited the Augusta Mental Health Institute and served holiday dinners to patients and staff before gathering with his family for a traditional dinner at the Blaine House.

One of Maine’s other best-known citizens, Stephen King, was forced to miss a dinner at home as he spent the holiday in the Bangor hospital where he’s recuperating from pneumonia.

Much of Maine was treated to sunny skies on Thanksgiving, but some changes were in store, the National Weather Service said.

An inch or two of snow and sleet were expected to accumulate in far northern areas Thursday night, with a couple of more inches Friday before rain arrives.

In central and southern Maine, the weather service predicted rain after midnight Thursday and showers Friday. Partly sunny skies are expected Saturday, and it will be cloudy but dry when travelers return home from their holiday weekend.

A minor accident briefly closed the southbound lane of I-95 near Portland on Thursday morning after several cars hit black ice and skidded off the road. No serious injuries were reported.