Thursday is America's official day of thanks, but across the Internet uncountable numbers of bloggers, Twitterers, Facebookers (is that even a word?) and emailers have gotten a 25 day running start on gratitude. They've jumped in on the 30 Days of Thanks effort online.

30 Days was born after three women realized how much they enjoyed encouraging themselves and others to focus a few minutes a day on the people, things and experiences for which they're grateful.

The home site cheerfully suggests blogging your thoughts daily but notes,

Thankfulness doesn't only come to those who blog! You can still play by writing in a journal, on napkins at lunch (think how cool it would be to have 30 napkins at the end of the month you could create an album with, or frame!), or on anything at all. It's about the practice, and the every day consistency.

It suggests other paths like posting at Facebook, or Tweeting (check for hashtag #30days for a fast way to find folks playing along)

Heather Hinson, of Charlotte, NC., one of the founders, says:

Every post doesn't have to be deep or meaningful or fabulous. You're thankful, of course, for family and old friends and laughter but one day I posted that I was grateful for lip gloss. It can be a stretch. But when you've had a tough day and you discipline yourself to sit down and think,"what will I post?" the process makes you happier already.

The 30 Days idea is actually 390 days old. It started after Hinson reconnected with a high school pal, Monica Cox of Atlanta. In 2008, Cox posted a grateful thought daily throughout November. This year, with her second baby due, it was more than Cox could do. So Hinson picked up the flag and began posting thanks on November 1.

Immediately, Stacy Brice of Baltimore, who knew Hinson through Brice's business training people to be online professional management assistants, spotted the post. She suggested they create a website and invite the world to join in. It was up Nov. 2.

Brice herself is thankful not only for loved ones but also for music, for "'bright shiny new caulk' on the back splash of her kitchen and people who have the skill to make it look so good," she says. She liked Heather's post on being thankful for open gas stations at the foot of the hill when you're coasting on fumes.

They have no measure of how far this has spread. They say many like to keep their grateful thoughts private among family and friends, while others go public.

Some use the process as a spiritual discipline -- 30 days of finding new ways to experience God's gifts. Although the site is not expressly religious, on the 30 Days Facebook event site (look fast because it expires Nov. 30) several people address their thanks to God or Jesus.

Brice doesn't mention God, however, she says,

I'm a deeply spiritual and for me God is the core of everything. It's all about love at the end of the day. During these 30 days, people will post whatever brings them to a place of thanks. And whoever is God to them will see it. God knows.

Hinson points out that,

Some might say that being thankful is more self-centered than giving thanks, but I like to think of it as more heart-centered instead.

So now it's my turn to join in.

I marked F&R's first anniversary with three weeks off -- hiking in magnificent New Zealand and recouping with gracious friends in charming Sydney. But I could only go off to celebrate knowing that four talented journalists -- Gary Stern, Cathleen Falsani, Bob Smietana and Tracy Simmons, would keep F&R perking with the guidance of excellent editors Anne Godlasky and Leslie Miller. Many days of November I offered thanks up for their good work!

But every day, year round, I'm grateful for you, readers. Your thoughts and comments, here and in the Forum, bring F&R alive. At USA TODAY, we don't call these blogs "blogs" -- we call them "communities." You make this true.

May your own Thanksgiving community be full of love and blessings. If you'd like to share one or two of your grateful thoughts -- be they for your Lord, your loved ones, your lipgloss or anything in between -- please do!