MUNCIE — If you’re reading this at your kitchen table, cozy in your bathrobe and drinking coffee, congratulations. You’ve avoided the madness of Black Friday.

Yes, today is Black Friday, the Super Bowl of Christmas shopping, the traditional kick-off of the holiday retail season.

Black Friday — so named because it used to be the day retailers moved from red ink into showing a profit for the year — has become part shopping excursion and part social event. But it’s all business for retailers, who hope this year will demonstrate that consumers are more confident of recovery from the recession this year than they were before Christmas 2008. Spending declined more than 3 percent a year ago, and is expected to decline only about 1 percent this year.

Ball State University economist Michael Hicks says he expects 190 million shoppers will come out this year. Not all in the same store, although it might feel like that.

“It’s going to look like a stampede,” Hicks said. “I think more people will go out because it’s turned from a shopping day into an adventure day.”

Retailers are offering Black Friday deals on everything from electronics to clothing to attract shoppers and opening as early as 4 a.m. today. Toys R Us opened at midnight today.

Some hardy souls were likely to wait in line outside retailers’ doors all night long — Best Buy always draws an overnight crowd — and hopefully they’ll be bundled up, with the forecast calling for cold temperatures and even snow showers.

Stacey Nance, manager of Muncie Mall, is among those rooting for a little touch of winter.

“They’re talking snow flurries, which is good for the retail business, because it gets people in the mood,” Nance said. “For me, I’m not ready for the cold.”

Regardless of the temperature, shoppers will be out. And they’re not just looking for the obvious gifts. At Menards, the home improvement warehouse traditionally draws a crowd.

“Last year I probably let 600 people in at 6 a.m.,” said Jon Keller, manager of the Muncie store. “I had 25 waiting when I got here at a quarter ’til 4.”

Keller even suggested the perfect gift — available at his store, of course — for Black Friday shoppers braving cold temperatures.

“How about a Snuggie?” Keller said, referring to the “blanket with sleeves,” ubiquitous on TV commercials. “We’ve got a lot of those.”

Let the adventure begin.