Across Central Virginia, the traditions of Thanksgiving bring us closer together with those we love. We gather with family and close friends, we share memories and laughter, and we give thanks for the profound blessing of living in the United States.

There's nothing that can replace being on the court with your teammates. Just a feeling that can't be duplicated. But for me to have a distraction like video games where I can hang out with friends, still compete through that. I mean that's something I'm for sure thankful for, for sure helps me get away.

I'm very fortunate and thankful everyday to the man up above. Because without Him, and my friends and family, I wouldn't be here.

It's good to have a free space to laugh and cry and get angry about gender and sexuality. That's one of the things I am the most thankful for from my friends and my family. They've given me the place to freely have gender be a part of our discourse.

My mom, ever since we were little girls, has really always rallied us together - my sister, our friends - to instill in us the fact that other people don't have what we have, so we have to be really thankful for things.

I'm really thankful for the opportunity the Marlins gave me. They drafted me in 2010 and gave me a chance to play in the big leagues. I made lifelong friends there, and I've got a lot of great memories.

I would not say that my relationships are becoming shallow; if anything, some of them are really being tested in a way that I'm so thankful for my friends that call me and still want to talk.

I'm so thankful to Fox News for the chance to be on 'Outnumbered,' but I'm leaving to focus on other things. I have no doubt the show will continue to do well and wish all my friends and colleagues at the network nothing but success.

I've gone to normal clubs, straight clubs, and I've gone to gay clubs to party with my friends and fans. There's no difference. I have nothing to prove. I'm very comfortable in my own skin, and I'm thankful to have as many close gay friends as I have, people who have been so supportive in my life and have always been there for me.

I feel like I'm doing what I love. If I can get out, shoot, film and climb, and be with my friends and family, I'm happy. It doesn't take a lot. I don't need to climb huge mountains. I have a deep connection with wilderness and the environment, and I'm thankful for that.

At Thanksgiving, I always start at the top of my list and say I'm grateful for friends, family, and good health. Then I get more superficial... like being thankful for my Louboutins.

I remember, the first time I came to the United States in 1996, I didn't speak a word of English at the beginning. I am very thankful for this country and the opportunity music has given me... My three kids were born here in Miami; they speak Spanish at home, but English with all their friends.

I've had this unbelievable amount of good fortune and I'm just so thankful for it. But at the same time I feel exceptionally guilty. I have so many friends who are talented graduates of Juilliard and are exceptional actors and I'm the lucky one that somehow got such a fortunate break.

I'm so thankful for my family and friends - they're really supportive. Everyone I work with on 'Austin & Ally;' the cast and crew are like my family now. We have so much fun, and I'm so happy they're in my life!

There's no ex out there who I'm not friends with today, and I'm extremely thankful for that.

I'm thankful to my family, friends, and fans for all of their support.

We designed a number of features from the ground up, like custom display and optics technology with very high refresh rates and pixel density. We added integrated 3-D audio, a built-in microphone so you can speak to friends inside virtual worlds, and precise mechanical adjustment systems.

I think that a lot of people, especially as technology began to speed up and we became more distant, we kind of started to lose our appreciation for human contact and gathering and friendships and a lot of the things that we really took for granted.

In high school, I had a wonderful teacher who, coincidentally also taught Meryl Streep before me. At the same time I had my own rock band, I played bass and sang. I was one of those kids who really enjoyed being with my friends and doing rather insane, but fun, creative things.

I want to be a science teacher. My friends asked me why, but I'm intrigued by it and I'm quite good at science at school.

I had a great acting teacher in high school. But I didn't like acting because it took too many people to get the job done. You have to talk to too many people and listen to others' opinions. With music, you get a few friends together and just make it.

I always wrote music for my friends, but my focus was on playing piano. I didn't think I'd be quite good enough to be a soloist, but I believed that if I worked hard enough, I could work as a player, a teacher.

I was a mimic when I was a child. I mimicked the teacher and made friends that way, actually. That was a very subversive activity, because I was a goody-goody who never got in trouble. But if I went off in the corner and mimicked the teacher, people loved it.

I first started actually playing guitar when I was eleven years old. I had some neighborhood friends who told me they were starting a band and needed a guitarist. I told my folks, and by the next day I had a guitar lesson set up with a local teacher.