It’s something of a time-honored tradition to go around the Thanksgiving table and ask everyone to share something they’re thankful for. But why stop here? Why not try to share something you’re thankful for as you go around the community?

Being thankful doesn’t mean pretending that everything is wonderful; it means making an effort to focus on what you have instead of on what you don’t.

An easy way to start might be to note the many everyday things that will never make a news headline — things like safe travels or reliable heat and water.

But there are also plenty of exceptional things to be particularly thankful for and we’d like to share a few of them.

For starters, we’re thankful for the many hands helping to prepare Thursday’s annual community Thanksgiving dinner. It’s a true community event, where everyone is welcome to drop by the Park County Fairgrounds from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for a warm meal and greetings. If you don’t have plans this Thanksgiving, we’d encourage you to attend.

We’re also thankful for Sally Montoya and her army of dedicated volunteers who put together the annual Christmas Basket Program. For decades, the program has brought Christmas dinners and children’s gifts to Powell families in need.

But our thanks shouldn’t be — and isn’t — limited to the holidays.

We’re also thankful for people like Amber Gutierrez, who recently celebrated her 32nd birthday by performing 32 random acts of kindness. Her acts ranged from distributing goodies, flowers and balloons to organizations and people around town to leaving coins on laundry machines.

Instead of celebrating herself, Gutierrez chose to bring joy to others; the goodies she brought to the Tribune certainly brightened our day.

We’re thankful for community members like Tommy May and Brock Ninker, who — along with many others — put together an entire afternoon of stock car races this month to raise money for Jeff Matthews, who was injured in an October motorcycle crash. It was only the most recent example of community members going to great lengths to raise support for those struggling with medical bills and other trials.

We also appreciate the thankfulness we encounter throughout the community.

Just this month, Johanna Cubbage, Mike and Marjorie Parker, Dorothy Fross and their families threw a thank you party for the BNSF worker who fixed their bumpy railroad crossing in Garland; back in September, Chuck and Lila Hewitt and others organized a large event to express appreciation for all of the first responders that serve our area.

We realize that we’re now thanking people for saying thank you, but that’s the great thing about gratitude: It just creates more gratitude.

There’s no doubt we’ve missed many shining examples of things we should be thankful for here in Powell. In fact, please be sure to tell your friends and neighbors all the great things we’ve failed to mention here. Both they and you will be thankful that you did.