For 31-year-old Erin Bissman, her Christmas wish and the meaning of the season is "to spend time with family." And that is exactly what the mother of three plans to do during the Christmas holiday.
One recent afternoon, the Clinton County resident, a native of Ohio, was with her parents and scores of other shoppers at the Lycoming Mall. Her parents recently moved to this area from Idaho.
On the shopping outing, the stay-at-home mother carried her youngest child, 9-month-old daughter McKenna, in a baby sling.
"That's one of the things I am most grateful for," she said of the opportunity to be with her children while her husband, Scott, provides for the family, which includes two other children: 3-year-old Tristin and 6-year-old Matthew.
Her husband, a career law enforcement officer, "is in a job that is always going to be needed," she said.
The daughter of a Navy officer, the couple met in Japan while Scott, also a Navy officer, was serving a tour of duty.
With the country in an economic downturn that is putting thousands out of work, Bissman said: "I am grateful that my husband has the job that he has."
